Pezzetti were one of the specialties of the Roman fried food shop. It is a recipe with pieces of vegetables and tubers suchasbroccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, artichokes, and potatoes.
Today, there are no longer the typicalfried food shops, perhaps because everyone is always on a diet, so to taste this dish you must make it yourself or hope to find it on the menu of one of the capitolinetrattorie.
Roman style fried vegetables
- Preparation time: 90 minutes
- Ingredients for 6 servings
- Difficulty: Easy recipe
- Ingredients
- For the batter:
- 40 gr or 1 1/2 oz of flour
- 40 gr or 1 1/2 oz of rice flour
- 2 tablespoons of dry white wine
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- 160 gr or 5 oz maximum of ice-cold sparkling water
- 2 egg whites
- Salt to taste
- For frying:
- 200 gr or 7 oz of broccoli
- 2 potatoes
- 2 zucchini
- 1 artichoke
- 200 gr or 7 oz of pumpkin
- Peanut oil for frying to taste
- Instructions
- Wash and clean the vegetables well.
- Cut the zucchini into julienne strips and the artichoke into slices. Take some broccoli florets and divide them in half. Cut the potatoes into chips and pumpkin into thin slices.
- Dissolve the flour with wine and water until it becomes liquid but viscous. Add a pinch of salt and a tablespoon of olive oil. Cover the batter and let it rest for thirty minutes in the refrigerator.
- A few minutes before using the batter beat two egg whites until stiff and add them with a spatula from the bottom up while mixing.
- In a pan, add the oil and bring it to a temperature of 350° F.
- Pass the pieces of vegetables through the batter and fry them in oil a few at a time.
- Drain the vegetables on absorbent paper. Salt and serve.
Tips to ensure the success of the dish:
- In order not to disassemble the egg whites, it would be better to add them into the mixture in three times. The first can also be mixed with the batter in quickly. The second and third time they should be mixed in more and more gently.
- Fry a few vegetables at a time so as not to lower the oil temperature too much.
- Always use a thermometer to measure the oil temperature. It is an affordable tool andit is useful in order not to let the oil go over the smoke point.
[…] Traditionally, Italians don’t eat meat on Christmas Eve, or la Vigilia. Instead, they eat a variety of fish dishes – sometimes up to seven courses of seafood! This is typical on the day and night before any religious celebration; you are supposed to ‘eat lean’ and purify your body ahead of the holidays! Popular fish dishes vary across the country. In Rome, they enjoy the local dish of pezzetti: artichoke, zucchini and broccoli fried together – whereas in Naples, seafood and broccoli are sautéed. Here’s a great recipe if you wish to try out this traditional fare. […]
Thank you very much!