Recipe for whitebait fritters

Bianchetti or "gianchetti" are the tiny, baby oily fish, or rather, the young anchovies and sardines.

They are like a jelly-like, whitish translucent mass where each one is usually no longer than 2mm. When they are cooked they turn completely white. In the past the women from Elba used to buy them to be cooked in omelettes and fritters, tiny fish with lemon, or stuffed or grilled.

These fish are caught in a special type of net called "sciapichello" or rather "sciabichello" similar to a small sweep-net but with very small holes.

From an organic point of view this type of fishing comes under severe rules to the point that it is forbidden more or less everywhere, and you very rarely find these tiny, baby fish for sale.

Ingredients

300 gr of tiny, baby fish. 3 tablespoons of flour, 3 eggs, salt, pepper and parsely

Method

Put the fish in a fine sieve and rinse out briefly under cold, running water to remove any dirt, then shake dry in a clean dish towel.

Prepare the batter for the fritters: beat the eggs with the flour and add the chopped parsely, salt and pepper.

Add the fish to the mixture that should be quite runny.

Leave to rest for a few minutes and in the meantime pour enough seed oil into a high sided frying pan, and when it is hot put spoonfuls of the mixture in and fry on both sides until golden (a few minutes will be long enough).

Place on a sheet of kitchen roll and serve hot.

Photographs from Donna Moderna