On Monday I was watching the Food Network (Ten Dollar Dinners) and I saw something that I thought would be great for finishing up some of my CSA veggies! I served it with some eggplant rollatini and it was pretty delicious. However, it is also definitely the most unhealthy way I have ever cooked veggies! (Thus the title of this post!) Yes….they were fried!!! I didn’t use quite as much oil as the recipe called for, so my veggies were definitely not deep fried. And the coating on the veggies is very light, so I don’t think it was TOO unhealthy! 😉
Fritto Misto
adapted from Melissa d’Arabian
Time: about 15 minutes total
Yield: 2 servings
Ingredients:
- vegetable or canola oil for frying
- 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp flour
- 2 Tbsp cornstarch
- pinch of salt, plus more to taste
- pinch of pepper (or a twist of freshly ground pepper)
- 1/2 cup seltzer or sparkling water
- 2-3 oz green beans
- 1 small zucchini, sliced into thin rounds
- 1/4-1/2 of a pepper, optional (I used a Hungarian hot pepper from my CSA box)
- 1/2 lemon, very thinly sliced
Directions:
1) Pour the oil into a large, wide pot to fill it a few inches. You can do more if you want the veggies to be more completely submerged. I was trying not to use too much oil, so I just did a couple inches’ worth and it worked fine. Heat it up until it’s hot enough that when you drop a pinch of flour in, you can see it bubbling and hear it start to cook.
2) Mix the flour, cornstarch, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Whisk in the water. Add the veggies (you can do this in batches if you want) and coat them well in the batter. The batter will be thin and runny.
3) Fry the veggies: Carefully (I used a slotted spoon) drop the veggies into the oil. Fry them until they are golden brown. This may take anywhere from 3-5 minutes. I did these in batches since my pot wasn’t quite big enough.
4) Drain on a plate that has been covered in a layer of paper towels. Sprinkle with additional salt if desired. Serve hot.
My Jersey Kitchen 