Summer time and the zucchinis are in full bloom. I'm so lucky that my girlfriend's parents are zucchini fanatics. Not so much because I like zucchinis (which, to be honest, I find a mildly boring vegetable), but because I have access to all the zucchini flowers I can pick. Zucchinis have two types of flowers: those which have a thick stem and which will turn into zucchinis, and those with a thin stem which are the "male" flowers and are only good for pollination... almost! Because you can also eat these. It's apparently a big thing in Italy, where apart from just frying them like I did, they also stuff them with cheese and herbs. Try it for yourself:
some 12-20 zucchini flowers
1 egg
1 dl. of water
1 dl. flour
pinch of salt
pinch of cayenne
Some neutral oil for frying
Start by mixing the batter (all the ingredients apart from the flowers). Leave it to rest in the fridge while preparing the flowers.
You can either wash them and leave them to dry if you aren't sure how clean they are. I picked mine directly from their organic garden so I just brushed off any small insect I might come across. Then gently open the flowers and remove the stamen as it's quite bitter (I've read). It snaps off easily. Trim the stem back to a centimeter and break off those green leafs from the base of the flower.
Heat up a good amount of neutral oil on a non-stick frying pan. Dip the dry flowers in the batter and place them directly into the hot oil.
Fry them for a minute on one side then or until they look golden and crispy, then turn them.
Place on a paper towel to absorb the excess oil. Eat while warm and crispy.
2 comments:
Hello David! I just came back from a trip to Italy and I´m trying to find zucchini flowers (that´s how I found your blog)...do you have any idea where I might possibly be able to find them in Madrid? Please leave a comment back if you know. Thanks!
Hi Jeannice. As far as I know zucchini flowers aren't really to be found anywhere in Madrid. I have an Italian friend who's been looking for them for ages without any luck. It might be due to some regulation which declassifies flowers as a food product, which in theory makes it illegal to sell them at the green grocer's. I'm not sure if that's the reason, or it's simply because there's no tradition for eating them. My best advice is to befriend some zucchini farmer and ask them to give you a bagful. Good luck.
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