Zucchini flowers
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- Published on Saturday, 27 August 2011 17:32
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Tonight the format for the dinner club is a little different.
We will learn how to cook zucchini flowers and I will give you an excellent recipe for the flowers and other fried vegetables that is quite easy to master. As Elvis would have said if he could cook, “Its now or never” if we are to explore this Italian tradition that once you have done it, you will be hooked.
The photos I have included are to demonstrate the difference between the male and female flowers. As with most species, the female bears the fruit while the men get fried. Another similarity is the female has a protrusion where the male is all stem. My finger is pointing to the squash starting to form under the flower. You will notice the flowers that are being fried are just the stem leading into the flower. I leave about 8 inches of stem when I cut them in the garden in order to remove them from the batter and the oil more easily.
You can cut that off when you plate the fried flower. The recipe given is from the Romangnoli family. It really works well and I hope you enjoy it.
Whenever a new bogus Italian restaurant opens here in the Poconos, the story line is invariably that they are using recipes from their “Nonna” or grandmother. Horse poop. Here is the jimmy on Italian grandmothers, who by the way conveniently are not around any longer to call their bogus offspring bullshiters. Their knowledge and way of cooking was a tacit, if they had recipes they were on scraps of paper that gave parameters but nothing you would understand as a recipe. They had two scales, their left hand and their right hand. We like to think things are “handed down to us”, and that can be done in some things, but art forms and athletics are not on that list. If that were the case, if you could simply write something down and explain it, we would all sing like Caruso and throw fastballs like Nolan Ryan.
Enough already, here is the recipe.
- Pastella per friggere
- (batter for frying)
- 2 eggs
- 1 ½ Tablespoon olive oil
- 2/3 cup warm water
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup of flour
Break the eggs into a bowl, add the oil, water, and salt. Beat until nicely mixed and homogenous. Slowly sprinkle in the flour, beating constantly, until the mixture has the consistency of a good pancake batter. Let it sit for a couple of hours before using. (I mean it!) When you use this batter to coat cut-up vegetables or anything else, drop in only a few pieces at a time, turn them slowly with a fork to coat all sides, and them take them out and immediately put them into hot frying oil. I suggest using olive oil labeled “Pomace”.
Good luck pilgrims!
Ciao
Mike
