Weekend Cooking: Fried Zucchini Flowers
Weekend Cooking is hosted by Beth Fish Reads. Participation is open to anyone who has any kind of food-related post to share: Book (novel, nonfiction) reviews, cookbook reviews, movie reviews, recipes, random thoughts, gadgets, fabulous quotations, photographs.
Last week I reviewed Recipes from an Italian Summer and I said that I would try the Fried Zucchini Flower recipe if my zucchini plants cooperated and continued to make flowers. Earlier this week they produced a dozen flowers so I gave the recipe a try. I’m happy to report that it was absolutely delicious! I have been making fried flowers for years using basically the same ingredients as this recipe, but the few differences in this one make all the difference in the world. These were crisp, light and tasty. Seriously, they rival my Italian grandmother’s fried flowers and she’s an expert at it.
Fried Zucchini Flowers
Freshly picked zucchini flowers
Preparation time: 1½ hrs
Cooking Time: 15 min
Serves 4
Ingredients:
scant 1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
5 tablespoons dry white wine
1 egg, separated
vegetable oil for frying
12 zucchini flowers
salt and pepper
Fried Zucchini Flowers
Preparation:
Combine the flour, oil, wine and egg yolk in a bowl and season with the salt and pepper. Add 2/3 to 1 cup warm water to make a fairly runny, smooth batter. Let stand for 1 hour.
Whisk the egg white to stiff peaks in a grease free bowl and fold gently into the batter. Heat the vegetable oil in a deep-fryer or heavy pan to 350-375° or until a cube of day-old bread browns in 30 seconds.
Dip the flowers in the batter, shake off the excess and fry in the hot oil in batches until they are golden. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with salt and serve immediately.
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Recipe from the book Recipes From An Italian Summer
Photos from my kitchen.
Under My Apple Tree 
I have never tried to make these at home — I do love them though. I’m not sure I ever realized there was white wine in the batter. Sounds really easy. I don’t normally fry, but I might make an exception next summer.
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This is the first recipe for flowers that I’ve seen that has wine. The other difference was to separate the egg. Those two changes made a difference in the batter. I don’t fry a lot either but this is one of my favorite treats, and to me they really are a treat. And when I do fry I do so outside on the side burner of the grill. I hate the mess frying in the house creates.
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Well, I have to admit that I’ve never eaten a fried flower. I’m intrigued though, so I’d love to give them a try. Now, to find some zucchini flowers.
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If you like fried zucchini you’ll probably like the flowers. You can find them at the farmer’s market although I’ve noticed they’ve doubled in price the last few years as restaurants have started offering them driving up demand. My farmer’s market runs out early. I grow my own but the plants don’t always cooperate.
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I never knew you could eat these flowers! I had so many this summer I could have really enjoyed this. I hope next summer I can try it out.
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