Light and perfectly fried, this Italian medley of battered seafood and vegetables makes for the ultimate snack
Diana Henry The Telegraph's award-winning cookery writer
Diana Henry is the Telegraph’s much-loved cookery writer. She shares recipes each week, for everything from speedy family dinners to special menus that friends will remember for months. She is also a regular broadcaster on BBC Radio 4, and her journalism and recipe books, including Simple and How to Eat a Peach, are multi-award-winning. A mother of two sons, Diana can satisfy even the fussiest of eaters.
See more
Published
You can serve just deep-fried vegetables or deep-fried seafood, you don’t have to serve both, but once I’m in deep-frying mode it seems a shame not to, well, deep-fry everything.
The consistency of the batter is really important. It needs to be the thickness of double cream, so add the water carefully. You may not need it all, you may need just a little more (flour absorbs liquid at different rates, depending on its age). If the batter is too thin it won’t cling properly.
Requires 1 hour resting time
Overview
Prep time
15 mins
Cook time
30 mins
Serves
4
, or more if it's a starter
Ingredients
For the batter
- 250g Italian 00-grade flour
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 egg white
For the vegetables
- 2 litres oil, for deep-frying
- 8 asparagus stalks, woody ends removed
- 8 baby courgettes
- 1 medium aubergine, cut into slim rounds
- 12 small Swiss-chard leaves
- 8 spring onions, tufty ends trimmed
For the fish
- 200g cleaned squid, cut into rings
- 200g king prawns (leave the tail on if you can buy them like that)
- lemon wedges, to serve
Method
Step
Put the oven on a low heat, so you can put each batch of fried food in there while you make the rest (or you can just stand there and hand everything over to your guests as you do it).
Step
To make the batter, sift 250g Italian 00-grade flour into a bowl and make a well in the centre.
Step
Pour in 4 tbsp olive oil then, whisking as you do so, start gradually adding 300ml warm water, until the mixture is smooth and as thick as double cream, then rest it for an hour.
Step
Place a large double layer of kitchen paper somewhere close to your hob. Beat 1 egg white until it forms soft peaks, then gently fold it into the batter.
Step
Heat about 5in of the 2 litres oil to 180C in a large pan – as soon as you add food to the oil it will bubble up, so you need room in the pan above the surface of the oil.
Step
During cooking, you need to keep an eye on the temperature of the oil, moving it off the hob altogether at times, then heating it again. If you don’t watch the temperature, you risk burning the batter before the vegetables inside are cooked.
Step
When the oil reaches 180C, dip 8 asparagus stalks (woody ends removed), 8 baby courgettes, 1 medium aubergine (cut into slim rounds), 12 small Swiss-chard leaves and 8 spring onions (tufty ends trimmed) in the batter, shake off the excess, then quickly get it into the hot oil, cooking each vegetable separately.
Step
Stir so they don’t stick together. Reasonably thick asparagus and baby courgettes take 5 minutes to cook; rounds of aubergine 3 minutes; Swiss chard leaves and spring onions 1-2 minutes. Drain them on the kitchen paper, sprinkle with salt, then place in the oven to keep warm.
Step
Cook 200g squid (cleaned and cut into rings) and 200g king prawns (tails left on if you can buy them like that) separately, in the same way. The squid will take 1-2 minutes, depending on how thick it is; the prawns 40 seconds. Sprinkle these with salt as well.
Step
Serve everything on a large platter with wedges of lemon.