One of the reasons I love Flickr so much: my Flickr friend, Robert Barone shared a story how they made Zeppole at home to recall his memories of childhood flavours. I loved his story very much! But I was really surprised when realized that his recipe describes a traditional and very popular Hungarian pastry, moreover I used to make it rather frequently for my family, especially in February (during Carnival time) and around Easter. We call it "fánk", and this version with potatoes is called "krumplis fánk" (I could translate it something like that: fried potatoe douhgballs). Actually recipe and ingredients are just the same, and mine looks very much like Robert's Zeppole! In Hungary we used to make several versions of it: without potatoes, simply with flour, milk, eggs and yeast, or with "túró"( quark), or with ricotta, instead of potatoes. I serve it usually with cinnamon powdered sugar, or hot rum apricot jam. So my friend, Robert Barone inspired me to make "fánk" again - and my family was very grateful! (Thank you, Robert!) Luckily I took photos before I got ready with frying, because in ten minutes great great grandma's porcelain plate got empty. Potato Zeppole Ingredients: 3/4 kg flour (I used to buy it from market, from a miller) 1 kg of boiled and smashed potatoes (organic) 5 eggs (from the market, from a farm) 50 gr sugar 50 gr yeast (organic) a pinch of salt 3 cups oil (or as much as dough needs) Knead the potatoes with the flour slowly adding the eggs first and then the remaining ingredients. Once you get a solid dough, make many “zeppole” out of it and let it stand and grow for a while. Then fry them with plenty of hot olive oil. My favourite, the Ricotta Zeppole (Túrófánk) Recipe: 250 g ricotta 250 g flour 3 eggs, beaten 175 gr sour cream 1 tsp baking soda 4 tbs sugar 10 gr vanilla sugar, or vanilla extract 1 pinch of salt oil for frying Serve it with confectioner's sugar (and optionally some of cinnamon powder). Other options: serve it with hot home made apricot jam with 1 tbs rum. In a medium pot, combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Stir in the eggs, ricotta and vanilla. Mix gently over until combined. Batter will be sticky. Heat the oil in a deep pan. Dip the tablespoon into the hot oil every time you form a ball. Drop by tablespoons into the hot oil only a few at a time. Zeppole will turn over by themselves. Fry until golden brown, about 3 or 4 minutes. Drain on a paper. Serve it with confectioner's sugar (and optionally some of cinnamon powder). Other options: serve it with hot home made apricot jam with 1 tbs rum. ___________ This is the original Italian recipe from my Flickr friend Robert Barone (I've just learnt from Robert, this is the recipe of our mutual Flickr friend dark siobh@n's aunt's recipe...): Zeppole Ingredienti 3/4 di farina tipo 00 1 Kg di patate 5 uova 50 di zucchero 3 pezzi di lievito di birra da sciogliere in un po' di latte tiepido 3 tazzine d'olio d'oliva un pizzico di sale. Procedimento Si dispone la farina a fontana (tipo forma di un vulcano), aggiungervi le uova. Sbatterle aggiungendo lo zucchero, le patate ben setacciate, l'olio. Si lavora l'impasto. Si aggiunge il lievito sciolto e il pizzico di sale. Si lavora ancora la pasta e la si lascia riposare finché non cresce il volume. Dopo di che si lavora l'impasto, formando delle ciambelline e si lasciano riposare al caldo (in ambiente comunque caldo, altrimenti non la pasta non cresce) sotto un canovaccio. Una volta cresciute, si friggono in olio abbondante. Poi le si passano nello zucchero normale. Krumplis fánk: 1 kg héjában főtt krumpli 3/4 kg liszt 5 tojás 5 dkg élesztő 5 dkg cukor 3 csésze napraforgó olaj (amennyit felvesz) + a sütéshez csipet só Az élesztőt kevés tejben felfuttatjuk, a krumplit meghámozzuk, megfőzzük, még melegen áttörjük. A langyos krumplit a liszttel, a tojással, az élesztővel és a sóval bedagasztjuk, ha túl kemény, kevés langyos tejet adunk hozzá. Kis ideig kelni hagyjuk. A tésztából gömböket formálunk és bő, forró olajban kisütjük, papírtörlőre helyezve lecsöpögtetjük. Porcukorral, fahéjas cukorral,vagy pl.rumos forró baracklekvárral tálaljuk. Ez is egy változata a sokféle fánknak, én szívesen csinálom a túrófánk változatot is. www.nosalty.hu/recept/turofank-2 www.nosalty.hu/recept/turofank www.nosalty.hu/recept/ricottafank https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7143/6760763367_e419771207_b.jpg