One of my favourite summer and autumn cooking past-times is… you guessed it, picking baby zucchini and their flowers fresh from the garden. Taking them straight to the kitchen, making the simplest batter of them all, in Italian we call it la pastella, then dipping and frying these delectable morsels in hot oil to then plate them, take them outside where we nibble on them in the sunshine. What a treat! You can do the same too. But, please, please, please, do not let your zucchini grow the size of pumpkins, no culinary justice is served in the garden or the kitchen. Much better to do like we do in Italy and savour their sunny sweetness whilst they are young and tender. Happy gardening and happy cooking too. Enjoy! Sylvia xx
INGREDIENTS Serves – How every many you want!
Baby zucchini, cut in half lengthwise or left whole
Zucchini flowers, I use male and female flowers
80g filtered water (measure by weight)
40g sifted plain flour
Salt to season
Lemon wedge to squeeze
Frypan with canola, sunflower or rice brain oil to shallow fry the zucchini and flowers
METHOD
- Place the water in a mixing bowl. Sift in the flour. Whisk till well combined. The batter should be the consistency of thick pouring cream.
- Place the frypan with oil on high heat. Bring the oil to 180˚C.
- Dip the baby zucchini and flowers into the batter.
- Shallow fry the zucchini and flowers. The oil should sizzle in contact with the zucchini and batter. Do not overcrowd the frypan. Fry in batches.
- Fry till golden in colour and crisp in texture. Turn and fry the other side.
- Remove with a slotted spoon. Place on a plate lined with kitchen paper towel to drain.
- Immediately after draining, place them on a serving platter, season with freshly ground salt and dine on these delectable morsels out in the garden in the sunshine.
Buon appetito!
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