fried zucchini flowers Archives - attheitaliantable.com

August 22, 2014 by Gina Stipo Leave a Comment

Frying Zucchini Blossoms

All the members of the squash family – zucchini, squash, pumpkin – put out an edible flower, which in the summer in Italy is easy to find and not expensive to purchase. The zucchini flower is the hardiest and largest, making it ideal for stuffing, while squash and pumpkin blossoms tend to be more delicate and small.

The best time to pick the flowers is in the morning when they’re open. The flowers you want are the males on a long stem; keep a couple inches of the stem, it’s edible and is nice and crunchy when fried. Be sure to leave one male flower per plant to ensure continued pollination of the female flower.

The female flower will have a small zucchini attached to it.

Shake off any bugs or bees, remove the spikes at the base of the flower, and remove the stamen. The flowers will close up and slightly shrink after an hour or two and if you wait to remove the stamen you’ll end up having to rip through the flower to get inside. Be careful not to crush the flowers – I always carry a basket rather than a bag.

The flowers fried on their own are traditional and really delicious, but If you want to stuff them, do it immediately when you get home. Once the flower has closed up it will be difficult to stuff them without ripping the blossom. Just keep the stuffing simple so as not to overwhelm the delicate flavor of the flowers. Instead of stuffing the flowers, my grandmother always put a sprinkling of Parmigiano or Pecorino Romano cheese on top after they were fried!

This is a true summer treat and it’s not too late to find a farmer or a zucchini field to forage!

Fried Zucchini Flowers
Zucchini flowers can be stuffed with sage and chopped fresh pecorino for a delightful Tuscan flavour. A more southern Italian taste is mozzarella and a piece of anchovy. If you don’t wish to stuff them, just dip them in the batter and fry.
Zucchini flowers, cleaned 2-3 per person
Batter for frying (see recipe)
Peanut oil for frying
Clean the zucchini flowers by removing the spikes on the outside at the bottom of the flower and the stamen inside. It’s best done when the flowers are open in the morning, but if they are already closed when you get them, just be careful not to rip the flower too much.
For sage and pecorino, mince 2 tbsp pecorino and 3 sage leaves together in a small bowl and stuff the flowers with about a teaspoon of the mixture. For mozzarella and anchovy, simply put a small piece of anchovy on a long wedge of mozzarella and insert it in the flower.

Batter for Frying
2 cups AP flour
2-3 cups white wine
1 teas sea salt
Put flour and salt in a bowl, with a whisk begin adding the wine, whisking vigorously to break up any lumps, until the mixture is the consistency of a thin pancake batter. Allow to sit for a few minutes. Line a baking dish with paper towels.

Heat the oil on a high heat until a drop of batter fries and browns quickly. Dip each flower in the batter and drop in the hot oil. Using tongs, turn the flowers when they’re golden brown on one side. If they get too brown too quickly, reduce the heat. If they take a long time to brown, leave the pan empty while the oil comes back up to temperature (350′).

A generous sprinkling of grated Parmigiano is delicious. Serve with a dry cold white or rose’ wine!

April 23, 2012 by Gina Stipo Leave a Comment

Even a slipper is good fried.

“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!

September 19, 2011 by Gina Stipo Leave a Comment

Fried Zucchini Flowers

The summer is winding down but the garden is still pumping out zucchini flowers. My neighbor had a bumper crop after returning from vacation and she gave me a bunch this morning. As the Tuscans say “Even a slipper is good fried,” so I fried them up and managed to take a picture just before we devoured them for lunch! While the flowers themselves don’t have a lot of flavor, once batter dipped and fried in hot oil, they’re delicious!

Make a simple batter with flour, sea salt and white wine. The alcohol in the wine ties up the gluten in the flour and helps to add a nice crunch. We fry so much in Italy that there are special flours for an extra crunchy exterior. The ingredients include wheat and rice flour, baking soda and corn starch and it really does make the flowers so crunchy you can’t hear table conversation!

Use peanut oil to fry, it gets hottest without smoking. I generally add a little extra virgin olive oil for flavor.

Grandma always sprinkled her fried zucchini blossoms with grated parmigiano which I think adds a nice touch.

Buon Appetito! Gina