fried artichokes Archives - attheitaliantable.com

There is one week in the spring, sometime in May, where I’m driven to distraction by all the acacia and elder flowers lining the roads and fields. They look and smell heavenly, but I’m just praying to find the right opportunity to pick them and fry them before the end of the brief season.

Acacia smells beautiful, reminiscent of orange blossom, with white droplets bunched together like grapes, drooping from the branches. The elder has an unusual smell with large pale yellow lace-like flowers against dark green leaves.

Acacia is everywhere and generally has branches that grow within reach, giving easy access to the flowers. The elder (sambuco in Italian) is more difficult to pick as the bushes tend to grow on steep slopes on the sides of roads, maddeningly just out of reach.

I first fell in love with fried elder flowers when I was little girl in Italy. Not understanding the concept of seasons, I would come home with flowers all year long that to me resembled the fried elder I’d loved so much, hoping these were the ones and my mother would fry them for dinner. I was so often disappointed. Elder isn’t eaten or used much in Tuscany but in the northern regions they make tinctures and syrups of both the flowers and the berries.

This was the week and here are the pictures. We fried up a big batch of them in class yesterday, along with baby artichokes and some huge sage leaves.

“Anche una ciabbata fritta e’ buona.” (Even a slipper is good fried) – Old Tuscan saying

As many of you know, I spent this winter teaching at various cooking schools around the US, sharing traditional Tuscan dishes and talking about life in Italy. Although my menus don’t typically contain a lot of fried food, when I look back on what we cooked this winter, it seems we did a lot of frying. At classes for Christmas in Texas we made my grandmother’s panzerotti, fried chestnut ravioli rolled in sugar. For a special Tuscan dinner in February, there was salvia fritta, fried sage leaves stuffed with anchovy. To celebrate the feast of St. Joseph at my mom’s church in March, I labored over fritelle di San Giuseppe, rice balls flavored with orange zest, a traditional Tuscan treat.

What struck me in all those instances was the reaction of the local cooks and chefs: they were nervous about frying. They wanted to bring out special equipment like electric fryers and special thermometers for monitoring the oil. They expected it to be difficult and messy. I spent the winter helping both amateurs and professionals see how simple and easy frying can be.

Italians are always ready to toss a skillet on the stove top with some oil to fry up some little goodie. There are often piles of tiny fish at the fishmonger, too small to do anything with but toss them in flour and fry. Summer brings too many zucchini blossoms that are wonderful dipped in a simple batter and fried. Baby artichokes from the garden, fat porcini mushrooms from the woods, tender lamb chops from the butcher or winter squash cut into bright orange strips – they’re all fodder for the hot oil. Heat some oil in a skillet, mix a light batter, dip and fry the pieces until golden brown and then drain on butchers’ paper. It’s a simple and age-old process, and no special equipment is needed. Even though frying might not be the healthiest of cooking techniques, it truly turns everything into a crunchy joyful pleasure.

In America we often make things in the kitchen more difficult than they need to be. That carefree feeling in bringing forth food from the kitchen is elusive but an excess of equipment won’t save us.

Buon Appetito!

Frying Spring Flowers

Even a slipper is good fried.