Roman style fried zucchini flowers - Fiori fritti alla romana
I adore zucchini flowers. They’re are a symbol of summer with their brilliant and warm colors, just gazing at them makes my day happy. They have a delicate but distinctive taste, and are suitable to many preparations. I often make simple fried zucchini flowers especially when I have guests or risotto with zucchini flowers a very delicate dish. I learned the fiori fritti alla romana recipe not so long ago and I fell in love with it. It’s not common in my area, but it will be in my house from now on. The dish is plenty flavorful. The flowers are filled with mozzarella and an anchovy fillet, then rolled in the batter and fried until golden. I found different recipes for the batter, some richer with an egg some others add a little bit of yeast. I chose this simple batter that is also the recipe I use for my fried zucchini flowers.
Ingredients:
10 zucchini flowers or squash flowers
3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup water or flat beer*
1 Italian mozzarella cut in cubes and drained
10 anchovy fillets preserved in olive oil
peanut oil for frying
Instructions:
1. Wash the zucchini flowers and gently dry them on a cotton cloth. Carefully eliminate the pistil without breaking the flower.
2. Fill the flower with a cube of mozzarella and then an anchovy fillet. Close the top of the flowers with a gentle twist so that you seal the filling inside. Set aside.
3. Whisk the flour together with ice cold water or beer.
4. When the oil is ready add few flowers at the time, turn them after few minutes.
5. Flowers are ready when crunchy and golden. Lay them on paper towel, salt and serve.
Notes:
*The quantity of water/beer may vary depending on how much liquid your flour will absorb. When preparing the batter just add a little bit of liquid at the time.
Love them immensley, well worth the mess, but for my teenagers I substitute the anchovy for a basil leaf…. it has to be basil…..zucchini with basil is a marriage made in heaven