Crispy Fried Courgette
We first ate this dish in a small town just outside Bologna in Italy. It’s a celebration of summer beginning and of all the beautiful produce that’s soon to come.
Our version combines the Italian tradition with Nathan Outlaw’s unbelievably good gluten-free batter recipe.
Serves 2-4 as a snack
Ingredients
- 1 courgette
- 150g Dove’s gluten-free self-raising flour (Sold at Bellini’s in town and in Morrisons' ‘free from’ section)
- 160ml of sparkling water, cold from the fridge
- Fine sea salt
- 1 litre of rapeseed frying oil
- Kitchen roll
Method
- Slice your courgettes, skin and all, lengthways into long strips roughly 5mm thick. Cut each strip lengthways again until you have long strands the thickness of a chopstick.
- To remove some moisture from the courgettes, sprinkle with half a teaspoon of salt and give it all a toss. Place in a colander over a bowl and leave in the fridge to drain for 30 mins.
- Place the flour in a bowl and slowly whisk in the cold sparkling water until you have a thick consistency like American pancake batter.
- Fill a heavy bottomed, high sided pan to no more than half full with your frying oil and heat until it reaches 180C on a thermometer. If you don’t have a thermometer, don’t worry - you can simply test a single piece of courgette when the time comes and adjust the heat until it cooks perfectly.
- Once your oil is hot, remove your courgette from the fridge and dry off any excess moisture with kitchen roll. Place a small handful at a time into the batter, coating each piece thoroughly. Quickly but carefully place one piece at a time into the frying oil making sure to keep them separate. Cook until lightly golden, remove to a tray lined with kitchen paper and immediately sprinkle with a little salt (this will help keep the crunch).
Serve with your favourite mayonnaise. Crispy summer heaven!
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Tip: Use the same batter recipe with sparkling cider or beer instead of sparkling water for frying fish