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Ciao amici,
This spring has been unseasonably cooler and rainy in parts of Tuscany...just like so many parts across North America! Seems everything is coming on a little later this year - the acacia flowers Gina talks about below are just blooming now in parts of the U.S.
If you're interested in going to Italy with us this Fall, we have a few open spots. I've read that the airfares are coming down this Fall to Europe. Check out our itineraries on the website!
Also, mentioned in our last newsletter - we are using our domain to send our newsletter now. Please add this one to your address book.
Buon appetito!
Gina and Mary
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April Showers bring May Flowers
After all the cold rain of April we are rewarded with the burgeoning flowers of May. Poppies, roses and peonies cover the Tuscan landscape. Acaciais rampant along highways, turning miles of roads into soft white shoulders. Elder flowers dot dark elder bushes throughout the countryside and I'm preoccupied with how best to get at them while they're in their prime. Both acacia and elder are edible and I love adding them to a simple fried antipasto along with baby artichokes and the big sage leaves that come out in the spring. It's a brief, fleeting season and so we have to hurry.
Acacia smells beautiful, reminiscent of orange blossom, with white droplets bunched together like grapes, drooping from the branches. Acacia is everywhere and generally has branches that grow within reach, giving easy access to the flowers.
The elder (sambuco in Italian) has an unusual smell with large pale yellow lace-like flowers against dark green leaves. It is more difficult to pick as the bushes tend to grow on steep slopes on the sides of roads, maddeningly just out of reach.
I first fell in love with fried elder flowers when I was little girl in Italy and my mother learned how to fry them, which is common in the area around Verona. Not understanding the concept of seasons, I would bring flowers home all year long that I hoped were the right blossoms for frying. I was so often disappointed. Elder isn't eaten or used much in Tuscany but in the northern regions they make tinctures and syrups of both the flowers and the berries.
The batter for frying is the simplest thing in the world and you make just however much you think you'll need for the flowers and leaves you want to fry. Put flour in a bowl with a little salt. With a whisk start pouring white wine and stirring to incorporate. Use just enough wine that you have a batter the consistency of crepe batter. Heat peanut or grapeseed oil on a high heat, dip your flowers into the batter and put them in the oil. Turn them when they're golden brown, not too dark, and drain them on paper towels.
In the summer we have zucchini blossoms and
sage leaves, but in the spring we celebrate the short season of acacia and elder blossoms. If you can't find any flowers to fry, try small artichokes, zucchini slices and mushrooms.
Buon appetito!
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Pastella per Friggere
(batter for frying vegetables)
The simple tempura-like batter is wonderful for frying vegetables. This basic recipe will be enough to fry about 20 zucchini flowers or a pound of mushrooms. Make as much as you think you'll need.
1 cup flour
1 cup white wine
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
peanut or grapeseed oil for frying
Put the flour and salt in a bowl, whisk together and begin adding the wine in a slow steady stream while whisking constantly, until you have incorporated all the flour and the mixture is smooth with consistency of thin pancake batter.
Put 1-2" peanut oil in a deep skillet and heat until drops of batter bubble immediately and turn brown quickly. Dip each piece of food into the batter and add to the oil until the pan is full but not crowded; turn each piece when it's golden brown. Lift them out of the oil allowing the oil to drip back into the pan; drain on paper before serving.
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