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Fried Squash
(Zucchine fritte) The squashes used by Italians for frying and other purposes are very small, and for this reason they are called "Zucchine" or small squashes. They can be bought at those shops kept by Italian vegetable dealers that are now to be found in large number in most American cities and, invariably, in Italian neighborhoods during the summer season. The "Zucchine" are an extremely tasty vegetable and they are especially good when fried.
Select the squashes that are long and thin: wash them cut them in little strips less than half an inch thick. Take away the softer part of the interior and salt moderately. Leave them aside for an hour or two, then drain them but don't dry them. Put them in flour and rub gently in a sieve to take away the superfluous flour: immediately after put them in a saucepan where there is already oil, fat or butter boiling. At the beginning don't touch them to avoid breaking, and only when they have become a little hardened stir them and remove when they begin to be browned. 33
A straightforward fry, but the salting step is the whole point and the one most likely to be skipped. Everything else is technique.
- Salt and waitThe hour or two of salting draws out water so the strips fry rather than steam. Drain them but leave them damp, as the book says: the residual moisture is what makes the flour cling.
- Choosing the squashThe recipe asks only for squashes that are "long and thin"; small, slender zucchini are what is meant. "The softer part of the interior" is most likely the seedy core, which is more pronounced in a larger squash. Modern supermarket zucchini works, and the once-specialist Italian greengrocer is no longer required.
- Strip size"Less than half an inch thick" means batons, not rounds. Cut them roughly the thickness of a thick fry so the outside browns before the inside collapses.
- Flouring in a sieveTossing the floured strips in a sieve and shaking off the excess is worth doing exactly as written. Loose flour burns in the oil and clouds the fat.
- The fat"Boiling" here means the fat is properly hot, shimmering and ready to fry rather than literally boiling. The recipe allows oil, fat or butter; butter will colour and burn faster than the others, so olive or a neutral oil is the easier choice. Fry in batches so the temperature does not crash.
- Don't stir at firstThe strips need to set a crust before they are moved, or they shed their coating and break. Leave them undisturbed until they have "become a little hardened," then stir, and remove them as they begin to brown.
- Seasoning and yieldThey have already been salted, so taste before adding more. The recipe specifies no quantities or number of servings; as fried food they are best eaten within minutes of leaving the pan.
Zucchine fritte belongs to the everyday repertoire of Italian frying, the same family as fried artichokes, sage leaves and squash blossoms, where a light flour coat and hot oil do all the work. The note that these small squashes can be bought "at those shops kept by Italian vegetable dealers" is the more revealing line: it dates the book to a period when zucchini were still an immigrant vegetable in the United States, sold in Italian neighbourhoods in summer rather than stocked year-round. The squash itself is a New World plant, domesticated in the Americas and taken up in Italy after the sixteenth century; the habit of picking it immature, which the name zucchine records, is an Italian refinement rather than an inherited one.