What my friends like and fried zucchini blossoms

A few months ago we were watching Eat, Pray, Love, hungry from the first scenes of Julia Roberts enjoying her Roman experience and rediscovering the simple pleasures of food with spaghetti al pomodoro, pizza with melting mozzarella and crisp fried zucchini blossoms, when Alessandra, one of my friends, said: and remember that you have to make me the zucchini flowers stuffed with mozzarella. It was almost spring, a cold and unusual one, and she was already dreaming of fried zucchini flowers.

I scribbled it down right away.

I have a small black mental booklet where I record all my friends’ likes and dislikes, these are small pleasures that can make life more enjoyable and a dinner perfect and enjoyed by everyone. Create your menu around preferences and not only seasonal ingredients, this will greatly simplify the choice of dishes to cook, and I assure you that nothing, nothing pays off as the surprised look of one of your friends who discovers his favourite dessert to close the dinner. These may be tiny attentions, probably a little old-fashioned, but it’s all part of the magic.

Over the years I have assembled idiosyncrasies for cooked tomato, but raw is fine, sworn hate to melon and cucumbers, bananas thrown behind grandma’s wardrobe not to eat them, allergic reaction to cinnamon which produces a run away holding her nose (this is my sister), immoderate and uncontrollable passion for whipped cream, stolen with a spoon just from under my nose.

Tommy can not resist olives, he can be easily bribed with canederli, tortelli, a Sacher torte or a strudel, but he can not stand tofu, crostate with a too-sweet jam and white melon.

Mattia likes cheese in all its forms, especially fava beans and pecorino cheese, truffles and hot peppers, but do not offer him meringues, please. Alessandra loves everything with a lot of cheese in it, cakes with whipped cream and strawberries, tiramisu – but the savoiardi have to be well soaked in coffee otherwise it is not a tiramisu – but she would rather not have anchovies and, as we discovered, she’s got a weakness for zucchini flowers. A few days ago, as soon as the flowers of the zucchini started to peep in the garden, yellow and cheerful, I realized that the time had come.

A weekend day, a morning spent with friends among talks, laughter and cooking, mugs and teas, vegetable pies and fruit cakes. The brunch is quite a new tradition to Italy, but we have embraced it joyfully – as long as food is involved we are happy to try new experiences – since it is yet another chance to fill a room or a garden with a happy confusion, an Earl Grey tea with a vegetable cake or a mint green tea with fried zucchini flowers, strangely perfect to refresh and cleanse the palate.

Fried zucchini blossoms is a traditional antipasto in trattorias or family lunches, but it can easily be turned into the highlight of a brunch with friends.

Fry them on the spot,  leave them just one or two minutes in a dish lined with kitchen paper, then enjoy them standing, all around the dish, in a new modern ritual made ​​of murmurs of pleasure, small surprised exclamations when you bite into the melted mozzarella under the crisp crust and happy eyes of those who savour one of their favourite dishes.

Related posts:

I crostini neri, Tuscan chicken liver crostini Autumn panzanella salad A Tuscan sweet zucchini cake for a new mum Tuna-stuffed round zucchini. Our secret is in good hands.