#LebensfreudeChiantiClassico

For me, this summer is all about #LebensfreudeChiantiClassico! Meeting up with friends, chatting and laughing, drinking a good glass of wine and eating well together! With the recipes that I have presented to you over the last few weeks, I have tried to bring a little bit of the typical Tuscan way of life to your home. Of course, I hope that you have tried one or two of the recipes yourself and, above all, that you enjoyed them! After Pane Toscano and antipasti and starters I have prepared another small but delicious dish - or rather variations of a dish - for you today. It's verdure fritte - deep-fried vegetables that are often served as an aperitif.

What at first glance seems quite banal, reveals true explosions of flavor on closer inspection or when tasted. In general, fried foods are relatively common on Tuscan menus. The summer version is zucchini or pumpkin flowers or sage leaves. Personally, I find fried sage leaves very pretty, as they look like small cypress trees when fried - the very symbol of Tuscany. Just as an aside...

Zucchini flowers are the classic fried vegetable. Anyone who has zucchinis in their garden knows this all too well: after a certain point, you can't eat any more zucchinis and yet the plant flowers like crazy. My tip: harvest the flowers and bake them in olive oil in a batter until crispy.

I can literally hear the outcry: What? Frying in olive oil? All I can say to that is: Yes, it works brilliantly. And I don't know anyone who produces and has their own olive oil who wouldn't use it for deep-frying. What is true, of course, is that the valuable ingredients of cold-pressed olive oil are lost when it is heated. An oil only becomes harmful when it is so hot that it smokes. But this applies to any oil. I personally like to use olive oil that has passed its best-before date for deep-frying. Because this oil is by no means bad, it has perhaps just lost some of its original variety of flavors. But all in all, it is still an excellent oil. What's more, you don't always need a huge deep fryer for verdure fritti - a non-stick frying pan with a small fingerful of olive oil will suffice.

The dough - a coating of crispiness

As is so often the case, there are many different versions of the dough that coats the vegetables. I used to use a version with beer, later one with mineral water and wheat flour and now I've landed on the version with spelt flour and mineral water. Spelt flour makes it even crispier because the flour naturally has more bite. This is my current favorite version!

And then the big roasting can begin! Heat the olive oil in a pan. Toss the zucchini flowers or sage leaves - but green spring asparagus, thinly sliced carrots or, of course, fennel are also suitable - well in the batter and then fry in the oil until the batter is crispy. With other vegetables, just make sure that they are not cut too thickly, otherwise they will not be fully cooked. Sprinkle the fried verdure with a pinch of salt and: Mmmmhhhhhmmm, enjoy! A drizzle of reduced balsamic vinegar with honey is an excellent accompaniment. But of course a glass of Franciacorta or a glass of Sangiovese bianco - perfetto! So simple, so good, I love it!