Put the unpeeled potatoes in a saucepan filled with fresh water. Cook until soft. Peel the potatoes smash them in order to obtain a fluffy purée. Pour the purée into a large bowl and add yeast and flour, then knead until you obtain a thick dough. Let the mixture rest and rise for at least one hour (two hours are better).
Heat up the oil in the deep fryer or in the skillet. Take a bit of mashed potatoes with a spoon and pour it in the boiling oil to shape the doughnuts or “sfince”. When well browned on both sides, take the doughnuts with a perforated spoon and put them on a tray covered with cooking paper to absorb the exceeding oil.
Finally, put the honey (or the granulated sugar) in a small pan on which will roll the fried doughnuts. If you wish to, top with a bit of cinnamon powder.
Mashed potatoes add softness to a lot of Sicilian desserts and baked products (doughnuts, sweet rolls, ring-shaped cakes, pies etc.).
Recipe Notes
Contributor: Giovanna Scancarello
Place: Geraci Siculo, Italy
Personal Background:
She’s mother of 2 daughters. She’s passionate for gardening and cooking, using the products of her own garden.
Recipe’s Personal Background
How did you learn this recipe?
This recipe has been learned within her family, specifically from her mother and grandmother as a family ritual in specific celebrations.
Is there some memory/historical event connected to this recipe?
This recipe is pretty connected to the younger times of the interviewee, especially to her childhood. In Sicily doughnuts represent a typical dessert prepared for Saint Joseph’s Day on the 19th of March.
Personal reference to tradition transmitted by relatives (preparing together, sharing, eating together etc.)?
This recipe has got its basis on the dialogue and interaction within a family. It’s a recipe that usually has passed from one generation to another. In this case, the interviewee uses to prepare it together with her grandsons and closer friends for a specific celebration day (Saint Joseph day, as said previously).
Mediterranean Background
Any tradition this receipe is connected to? If yes, which one? Can you describe it?
POTATO DOUGHNUTS are one of the typical dessert recipes that are made for Saint Joseph’s Day, on the 19th of March. On that date, the “sfincie” or “sfinci” (kinds of risen and fried doughnuts made with flour) are prepared in Sicily. This recipe is a fine example of home-made desserts prepared with affordable ingredients of daily use. Geraci Siculo – the village where she lives – is a very small village, so the traditions are really felt by the population.
Any Festivity this recipe is connected to? If yes, which one? Can you describe it?
The “sfince” or “sfinci”, prepared with potatoes, rice or with wheat flour, are typical desserts of Saint Joseph’s Day, on the 19th of March. In Palermo, they are called “Saint Joseph’s doughnuts” (sfinci di San Giuseppe): they are bigger than the home-made ones and are filled with ricotta cream, chocolate drops, chopped pistachio, and candied cherries and orange peels.
Is your recipe connected to the territory you live in? Is it strictly linked to the specificity of the agricultural environment?
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Season (season this food is linked to)
Throughout the year
Ingredient
Nutritional Importance
Health Benefits
Potatoes
Made up of 10% proteins, 1% lipids and 89% carbohydrates. Rich of vitamins part of group B and trace elements.
They make you feel full, they are astringents, depurative, they protect the stomach from producing too much digestive juices.
Soft wheat flour
Contains 13% proteins, only 2% of lipids and 85% carbohydrates.
Source of long term energy.
Extra virgin olive oil
Made up 99% lipids, and minimally of vitamins, antioxidants and phytosterols.
Being a source of lipids, amino acids and important triglycerides that make up the lipid bilayer membrane, olive oil has multiple and important beneficial actions (also a mild laxative property).
Powder yeast
Made up of 87% proteins, 6% lipids and 7% carbohydrates.
It contains essential amino acids, minerals and vitamins, they can be assimilated easily and they are very useful to our body. It has depurative functions and it is useful in case you need to restore the intestinal bacterial flora.
Honey/ sugar
99% carbohydrates.
High energy value.
Additional information
Is it suggested to eat this meal if you suffer from some disease? If yes, for which one?
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What is the primary base with which your food is prepared? Is this a derivative of oil or another base?
Extra virgin olive oil.
What nutrition related illnesses or deficiencies are common in your area? Are there holistic or nutrition based remedies connected to these aliments?
