The Neapolitan way with squash blossoms: sciurilli, the golden male flowers of the zucchini, torn up and stirred through a soft leavened batter, then dropped in spoonfuls into hot oil to fry into airy, flower-flecked puffs. A summer fixture of the friggitoria, sold hot in the cuoppo.
In Naples the male flowers of the zucchini are called sciurilli, from the word for flower, and their glut in high summer made them cheap friggitoria fare. The everyday version chops the blossoms into a risen pasta-cresciuta batter and fries them by the spoonful; a richer version, mbuttunati or stuffed, fills each whole flower with ricotta and provola, or mozzarella and an anchovy, before battering and frying. Either way they are eaten hot from the paper cuoppo.
The batter fries to a crisp, blistered shell around a soft, just-set inside, and the pieces of flower go silky and faintly green-sweet within it. Lightly salted and greaseless when fresh from the oil, each puff is delicate rather than heavy.
A leavened batter carries the same trick as the plain zeppola, fermentation gas held in a slack gluten network puffing the fritter in hot oil, while the thin, high-moisture flowers cook through in seconds, their water steaming inside the coating and keeping them tender instead of frying dry. Oil at about 175°C sets the crust before the batter can soak up fat, so the puffs stay light.
Variations
The stuffed mbuttunati are battered whole and filled with ricotta and provola, or mozzarella and anchovy. Some cooks skip the yeast and use a simple flour-and-water pastella, or add grated pecorino and parsley to the batter.
On the Palate
Where Sciurilli Fritti sits in the Italian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4How it's made
8 steps · 15 min
- 15 min
Dissolve 7g fresh yeast in 200ml lukewarm water, then whisk in 200g flour and a pinch of salt to a smooth batter.
- 260 min
Cover and leave in a warm place until bubbly and risen, about 1 hour.
Watch outLet the batter ferment until visibly bubbly and risen, about an hour — this trapped gas is what puffs the fritters light; flat batter fries dense and heavy.
- 38 min
Meanwhile, clean 12-15 zucchini flowers: remove the stem and the inner pistil, then tear the flowers into strips.
- 42 min
Fold the torn flowers through the risen batter.
- 56 min
Heat oil to about 175°C in a deep pan.
Watch outBring the oil to about 175 degrees before the batter goes in — hot enough to set the crust at once so the puffs stay light instead of drinking oil.
- 63 min
Slide spoonfuls of the flower batter into the oil, a few at a time.
- 74 min
Fry, turning once, until golden and crisp, about 2 minutes, then drain on paper.
Watch outFry just about two minutes until golden and crisp — the thin, high-moisture flowers cook through in seconds, so pull them the moment they color.
- 82 min
Salt lightly and serve hot in a paper cuoppo.
