One of the pleasures of visiting Italy is to be delighted by its food and…flowers. This time I was lucky enough to find the fiori di zucca at the grocery store, so I bought them with the intent to make one of the easiest and yet most delicious recipes of the Italian cuisine.
Ingredients:
-about 15 zucchine blossoms (note: the correct word is zucchine not zucchini!)
-4 tbsp flour
-About 1/2 cup water or milk
-1 egg (optional)
-frying oil
-salt
Remove the pistils and gently wash the flowers inside and outside. Pat them dry. Prepare the batter by mixing the water (or milk), the flour, a little salt and the egg, if you decide to include it in your recipe. Make sure the batter is smooth and creamy. Dip the fiori di zucca into the batter and then fry them in very hot oil. Drain them on absorbent paper and lightly salt them. Serve them hot.
If you want to combine some language and cooking practice, we recommend Francesca Valerio’s blog on Italian recipes.
Buon Appetito!
mmm…my favourites are the deep fried Roman version filled with mozzarella and anchovies!
Thanks so much for this. This might sound a little strange, but I spent the first few years of my teenage lifein Rome, then travelled around the globe. Now I’m living in New Zealand, with my Chinese wife, and son we had whilst in Japan! Truly internationalized, eh? Anyway, I’ve been trying to rediscover the smells and tastes of my youth with some authentic Italian recipes like these, best I’ve found so far! Thanks again, I’ll see if I can add the feed to my google reader tonight, though my son usually does that for me!
For frying zucchini flowers all you need is water, flour, a little salt and if you have it, a little beer plus vegetable oil for frying. This way they will be real crisp, not limp.
Francesca, I finally tried this recipe on Sunday…went to the local market and actually saw zucchine blossoms. An easy recipe and it was great. Makes me want to plant zucchine next year.