Old Fashioned Italian Zucchini Fritters | Frittelle di Zucchine all'Antica

Sep 29

11 min read

Frittelle di Zucchine all'Antica (Old Fashioned Italian Zucchini Fritters)

Frittelle di zucchine are the small green fritters of the Italian summer table: crisp at the edge, tender and fragrant inside, and gone from the platter almost before it lands. Grated zucchini, eggs, cheese and mint are all they need. The only real skill is managing the water.

Yield: 4 appetizer servings, about 16 fritters. Prep: 20 minutes. Drain: 30 minutes. Cook: 20 minutes. Difficulty: easy. Region: all of Italy.

The Story

The zucchini is a younger vegetable than most Italians assume. Squashes crossed the Atlantic in the sixteenth century, but the slim, tender fruit picked young and called zucchino, the little pumpkin, was refined in the kitchen gardens of northern Italy, with Milan usually credited, and then travelled south with the market carts and the railways. By the nineteenth century it was the summer vegetable of the whole peninsula, and it grows so fast that a gardener who misses two days finds a club where a fruit had been.

That abundance is what made the fritter. In the cucina povera of the countryside nothing that grew in July was allowed to spoil. A household with more zucchini than it could eat grated them, bound them with an egg, stretched the mixture with a little flour and a spoonful of hard cheese, and fried it in whatever fat the family had: lard in the north, olive oil in the south, sunflower oil later on. The herbs followed the map. Mint is the note of Lazio, Campania and the south, parsley of the north and the center, and in many kitchens both went in together.

The phrase all'antica, in the old way, is a promise of restraint. There is no baking powder, no beer in the batter, no breadcrumb crust and no cream. What remains is a vegetable held together by egg and cheese and just enough flour, fried until the edges turn lacy and brown. A good fritter tastes of zucchini, cheese and mint, in that order, and nothing else.

The name changes from town to town. In Rome and the south you will hear frittelle or polpettine di zucchine, in the north frittatine, and in some kitchens the same mixture is dropped into the oil beside squash blossoms. The proportions change too, with more egg in one valley and more cheese in the next. What never changes is the idea: a cheap, abundant vegetable, transformed by heat and patience into something people queue for at a summer festival.

In summer these are not a main course. They arrive as an antipasto, or at village festivals in a paper cone, eaten with the fingers and still too hot, with a glass of cold white wine. Leftovers, if there are any, go into a panino the next day, which many cooks quietly consider the best way to eat them, with the crust gone soft and the mint still bright.

Ingredients

Choose small to medium zucchini that are firm, glossy and heavy for their size. Large ones have watery centers and coarse seeds. Use a young, well aged Parmigiano Reggiano rather than a pre grated tub, and fresh eggs at room temperature. Sunflower and peanut oil both have a neutral taste and a high smoke point, so the zucchini and the herbs stay in front.

For the fritters

Zucchini, small to medium, 2 lb (900 g)
Fine sea salt, for draining, 1 1/2 tsp (9 g)
Large eggs, 2
Parmigiano Reggiano, finely grated, 1/2 cup (50 g)
All purpose flour, 1/2 cup (65 g), plus up to 2 tbsp (16 g) only if the squeezed pulp weighs more than 1 lb (450 g)
Fresh mint leaves, chopped, 2 tbsp
Flat leaf parsley, chopped, 2 tbsp
Garlic clove, small, minced, 1
Freshly ground black pepper, 1/4 tsp

For frying

Sunflower or peanut oil, about 2 1/2 cups (600 ml), enough for 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) in a 10 inch (25 cm) skillet

For finishing

Flaky sea salt, to taste
Lemon, cut into wedges, 1
Small mint leaves, 8
Fresh ricotta, 1/2 cup (120 g), optional
Extra virgin olive oil, a few drops

Preparation

Grate and salt the zucchini

Trim the zucchini and grate them on the large holes of a box grater, skin included, into a wide bowl. Toss with the 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, tip the shreds into a colander set over a bowl and leave them for 30 minutes. Water will collect within minutes, and a great deal of it by the end. Leave the colander uncovered and do not press on the shreds yet, since the salt does the first part of the work by itself and the hands do the rest.

Squeeze and weigh the pulp

Gather the shreds in a clean kitchen towel, twist hard and squeeze over the sink, in two or three handfuls, until almost nothing drips. Weigh the pulp: you want about 1 lb (450 g), pale and crumbly, and you should have discarded just under 2 cups (450 ml) of liquid. Do not rinse it. Fluff it apart with a fork.

Build the mixture

Beat the eggs in a large bowl with the Parmigiano, mint, parsley, garlic and pepper. Add the squeezed zucchini and fold to coat. Sprinkle over 1/2 cup (65 g) of flour and fold only until no dry flour shows. The mixture should be thick and scoopable, closer to a loose stuffing than a pourable batter. Add no salt yet.

Rest the mixture

Leave the bowl for 10 minutes. The flour hydrates, the mixture tightens slightly and the flavors settle. Stir once before frying. Do not leave it much longer, because the salt and cheese will keep drawing water from the pulp. While it rests, line a rack over a tray, set out your slotted spoon and warm the oven, so that nothing has to be improvised once the oil is hot and the first batch is in the pan.

Heat the oil and fry a test fritter

Pour the oil into a heavy 10 inch (25 cm) skillet and bring it to 350°F (175°C). Fry one tablespoon of the mixture for 2 minutes on each side, then taste it. Correct the salt and pepper in the bowl now, and check that the fritter holds together. If it crumbles, add a spoonful of flour, and no more.

Fry in small batches

Drop heaped tablespoons of mixture into the oil, four or five at a time, and flatten each lightly to 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) thick with the back of the spoon. Fry for 2 1/2 to 3 minutes per side, turning once, until deep golden with lacy brown edges. Let the oil return to 350°F (175°C) before the next batch. Adjust the flame after each batch, lower if the fritters color in under two minutes, higher if the oil has slipped below temperature. Skim any loose shreds between batches, since they burn and taint the oil.

Drain and season

Lift the fritters with a slotted spoon onto a wire rack set over a tray, never onto paper towels, which trap steam under the crust. Sprinkle with flaky salt at once, while the surface is still slick. Keep finished fritters on the rack in a 200°F (95°C) oven while you fry the rest.

Plating

Serve the frittelle within minutes of leaving the oil, on a warm white platter or individual plates, never covered. Overlap four fritters on each plate in a loose fan so the crisp faces stay exposed. Set a lemon wedge beside them, a spoonful of ricotta if you like, and scatter two small mint leaves across the top.

Finish with a few drops of your best olive oil and a pinch of flaky salt on the ricotta, not on the fritters, which have already been seasoned. Bring the plates to the table straight away, because a fritter loses its snap within ten minutes and nothing repairs it afterward. These are an antipasto to be eaten hot, with the fingers, next to a cold glass of white wine. For a larger table, pile the fritters on one warm platter in the center and let everyone help themselves.

Professional Technique

Zucchini is more than ninety percent water, and that water has to leave the vegetable before the mixture is built, not after. It leaves either way. If it is still inside the pulp when the mixture reaches the pan, it escapes into the hot oil as steam and liquid, the fat cools, no crust can form, and the fritter poaches in its own juice instead of frying. What comes out is pale, limp and boiled. The fix is a drier vegetable, not a better batter.

So the sequence is fixed. Grate, salt, let the shreds drain for 30 minutes, then squeeze by hand in a kitchen towel until almost nothing drips. Then weigh the pulp, because weight tells you how much water actually left. Two pounds (900 g) of raw zucchini should give about 1 lb (450 g) of pulp. Only now do you decide the flour: 1/2 cup (65 g) for 1 lb (450 g). If the pulp weighs more, add up to 2 tablespoons (16 g), no further. If it weighs less, hold some flour back.

Flour is never the cure for a wet mixture. It absorbs water but does not remove it. Add enough to make a loose batter look thick and you get a dense, gluey paste that still leaks in the oil and tastes of raw flour while pushing the zucchini and cheese into the background. If the mixture is wet, squeeze another handful instead.

Salt needs the same accounting. The 1 1/2 teaspoons (9 g) used to draw the water mostly leave with it, but the pulp keeps some and the Parmigiano adds more, which is why the mixture receives no salt at first. Taste a test fritter, then correct. Never rinse the shreds to remove salt: rinsing puts back the water you worked to remove.

Texture and Moisture Control

A good fritter has three zones: a thin, brittle, lacy crust, a tender inside that is set but never gummy, and a clean vegetable flavor throughout. The crust is a matter of oil temperature. Hold the oil at 350°F (175°C). Below 325°F (165°C) the mixture soaks up fat and turns greasy. Above 375°F (190°C) the outside darkens before the egg in the center has set.

Egg and cheese do the structural work. Egg proteins set at about 160°F (70°C) and gather the shreds into a single body, while the Parmigiano adds savor and encourages browning. Flour is only a thin binder. Shaping each fritter to 1/2 inch (1.25 cm) thick lets the center reach that temperature in the same 5 to 6 minutes the crust needs to color.

After the pan, steam is the enemy of crispness. Rest the fritters on a wire rack so air reaches both faces, and never stack them hot. Fry in batches of four or five, since each cold spoonful lowers the oil temperature and a crowded pan cannot recover. A rack in a 200°F (95°C) oven holds the crust for about 20 minutes. After that, moisture from the center migrates outward and softens it.

Professional Mise en Place

Frittelle are fried to order in short batches, so everything else is finished before the first spoonful meets the oil. The kitchen should be arranged so that one person can fry, turn, drain and season without leaving the stove, and so that the oven, the rack and the plates are all within one step.

Equipment and tools

Box grater, colander, clean kitchen towel and a kitchen scale
Heavy 10 inch (25 cm) skillet and a frying thermometer
Slotted spoon, wire rack and rimmed tray
Small bowl for discarded liquid and a spare towel for the counter

Prepared ahead

Herbs chopped, garlic minced and cheese grated, covered and refrigerated
Zucchini grated, salted, drained and squeezed no more than 30 minutes before frying
Lemon wedges cut and ricotta seasoned with zest, salt and a few drops of oil
Mint leaves for the garnish picked and kept under a damp towel

Service setup

Oven at 200°F (95°C) with the rack tray inside
Oil at 350°F (175°C), checked again between batches
Warm plates, flaky salt and mint leaves within reach
One person on the pan, one person plating, so fritters never wait on the rack

Chef Tips

Use the large holes of a box grater. A food processor bruises the zucchini and produces a wet mash that never crisps. Choose a cast iron or heavy steel skillet, which holds its heat when cold mixture goes in, and use the freshest mint you can find, since dried mint tastes of dust here.

Grate a little lemon zest into the mixture for lift, and keep the fritters small: a tablespoon of mixture gives the best ratio of crust to interior. Do not mix the batter more than an hour before frying, because it slowly releases moisture as it sits.

Between batches, wipe the skillet edge with a folded towel so no burnt crumbs cling. When serving a crowd, choose two skillets and stagger them, so a fresh batch is always coming off the fire as the last is eaten. Keep a small bowl of water beside the stove to wet your fingers, which stops the mixture sticking when you shape the fritters.

Common Mistakes

Skipping the squeeze. A quick pat with paper towels removes a fraction of the water. Twist the pulp hard in a towel until only drops fall, then weigh it.

Salting the mixture before tasting. The pulp and the cheese already carry salt. Fry a test fritter first, then correct the bowl.

Frying in cool oil. Below 325°F (165°C) the fritters drink the oil and turn heavy. Use a thermometer and wait between batches.

Crowding the pan. Too many fritters at once drop the temperature and steam each other, so they turn soft. Fry four or five at a time.

Draining on paper towels. Paper traps steam beneath the fritter and softens the underside. A wire rack keeps both faces crisp.

Making them too thick. A tall fritter burns outside while the center stays raw. Flatten each one to 1/2 inch (1.25 cm).

Turning them too early. A fritter that is moved before the crust sets tears and sheds shreds into the oil. Wait for a golden edge, then flip once with confidence, and resist the urge to press the fritter flat a second time.

Wine Pairing

Vermentino di Gallura DOCG: A dry, saline white with bright citrus and a faint bitter almond finish. Its crisp acidity cuts through the hot oil and lifts the mint and Parmigiano, while its granite bred minerality keeps the fritter tasting clean. Serve it well chilled, at about 46°F (8°C), so the acidity stays sharp against the fat.

Franciacorta DOCG: A metodo classico sparkling wine and the classic answer to fried food. Fine, persistent bubbles and firm acidity scrub the palate after every bite, while the toasty, yeasty notes echo the golden crust. Choose a Brut or Satèn, since a little creaminess softens the salt on the surface.

Verdicchio di Matelica DOC: A dry white from the Marche with high acidity and a savory, almond edge. The tension it brings suits the sweetness of the zucchini, and its lean, almost salty structure meets the cheese without weight. The wine also has enough length to stand up to the garlic and the lemon.

Soave Superiore DOCG: A dry Veneto white built on Garganega, with almond, white peach and a mineral, volcanic grip. Its medium body and gentle bitterness sit comfortably beside the sweet zucchini and the salty cheese, and the acidity resets the palate after each fried mouthful.

Falanghina del Sannio DOC: A fragrant Campanian white with green apple, citrus and a touch of white flowers. Moderate alcohol and lively freshness echo the herbs and the lemon wedge, refreshing the palate between fritters. It is the easiest bottle to pour for a table of guests, and it never overwhelms the delicate zucchini.

Storage & Reheating

Cooked frittelle keep in the refrigerator for 3 days in an airtight container, layered with parchment. For longer storage, freeze them in a single layer on a tray until solid, then bag them for up to 1 month. Do not store the raw mixture, which weeps as it sits and turns loose within the hour. Label the freezer bag with the date and keep the fritters apart from strong smelling foods.

Reheat on a wire rack in a 400°F (200°C) oven for 8 to 10 minutes, or 12 to 14 minutes from frozen, until sizzling and crisp again. Never use the microwave, which turns the crust to leather. Cold fritters are also good eaten as they are, or tucked into a panino with a little ricotta and a leaf of mint.