Italian cuisine · Desserts & Sweets

Cartellate Pugliesi

Apulian pastry ribbons twisted into roses, deep-fried golden and dipped warm in dark grape must syrup.

Ingredients · for 8 servings

• 500 g flour
• 120 ml white wine
• 100 ml olive oil
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 organic orange (zest)
• 1 l frying oil
• 400 ml grape juice (dark, or substitute vincotto)
• 2 tbsp sugar for the syrup
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 50 g walnuts

Instructions

1. Warm the white wine and olive oil together until lukewarm, knead with the flour, sugar, grated orange zest and a pinch of salt into a firm, smooth dough, and let it rest covered for 30 min.
2. Roll out the dough in batches with a pasta machine or rolling pin until paper-thin, almost translucent, and cut into ribbons about 3 cm wide and 30 cm long with a pastry wheel.
3. Pinch each ribbon together at the center every 4 cm to form small pockets, then loosely coil it into a rose; lay the roses on a cloth and let them dry for 2 hrs.
4. Simmer the grape juice with 2 tbsp sugar and the cinnamon stick uncovered over medium heat for 20–25 min. until reduced to about a third and a thick, dark syrup forms.
5. Heat the frying oil to 170 °C and fry the roses in small batches for 2–3 min. until light golden brown and crisp, then drain on paper towels.
6. Dip the still-warm cartellate briefly one by one in the syrup, arrange on a platter, sprinkle with coarsely chopped walnuts and let them steep before serving.