Being autumn, chestnuts, rice and honey, are what I enjoy eating right now. I put them all together, and this is what I came up with. Frittelle are small fried dumplings and aren’t from one particular region of Italy, you’ll find them just about everywhere but this recipe is a play on my family’s version. My daughter (4) loves these as a dessert or a treat. If you want a more traditional frittelle then leave out the rice but we like it with the rice for texture and flavour. You want to get the mixture to the consistency of thick batter, and then with two spoons to carefully dollop a spoonful into hot vegetable oil, we like to use cottonseed oil.

Chestnut and Rice Frittelle

Makes about 20-30 dumplings.

600mls milk

100g arborio rice

25g chestnut flour

25g plain white flour

30g castor sugar

3 eggs, separated

Zest of half an orange

Zest of half a lemon

20mls Grand Marnier

25g butter

pinch of salt

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700ml-1 litre vegetable or cottonseed oil for frying

Chestnut honey for drizzling

Castor or raw sugar for dusting





In a saucepan, pour in the milk, the two zests, sugar, salt and gently bring to the boil. Add the rice and cook for 15 to 20 minutes, stirring every now and then. The mixture should look like an overcooked risotto (a bit mushy).

At this stage, add the butter, stir in the two flours and cook it for a further three to four minutes to cook out the flours in the mixture.

Pour the mix onto a main course plate to let it cool, it will set a little (which is fine). Then, put it back in the bowl and mix in the yolks and Grand Marnier.

Whisk the egg whites until firm and fold through the cooled mixture.

Take a spoonful and gently put it in hot oil. Deep-fry the frittelle in the hot vegetable oil until golden brown.

Place onto absorbent paper.

Drizzle chestnut honey, dust with one of the sugars and enjoy them.

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