Cavolfiore Fritto (Deep-fried Cauliflower)

When we went to Spain, in Barcelona to be precise, in 2010 hubby and I enjoyed the fried vegetables being sold at a vegetable fast food shop on La Rambla, a pedestrian street mall. We were there almost everyday while we were touring the city. It was just so good we kept on coming back. There was a variety of vegetables that they offer but our favorite was the cauliflower. And since then I really hoped that I could make it at home.

As I have mentioned in a previous post, I have this amazing Italian cookbook by Carla Capalbo - The Ultimate Italian Cookbook and guess what - one of the recipes was this Cavolfiore Fritto or Deep-fried Cauliflower! What are the chances that this may taste like the one in Spain, after all deep-frying veggies seem to be quite popular in the continent. So when I got myself a huge cauliflower, I tried this recipe immediately and I sure was not disappointed! So I simply adapted the recipe from the book, just a minor tweaking of the amount of ingredients but pretty much followed it to the letter.

The only thing I will note is that when you make it - make sure that the you cut up the cauliflower in small pieces. The cauliflower florets I made were quite big the first time I tried the recipe and it was fine but it took longer to cook/deep-fry them so I discovered that the smaller the chunks, the quicker they cook (or brown) and they are much crispier too so make sure to note this when you make it. I think the white wine batter just made this flavorful and scrumptious, too. Enjoy!

 

Ingredients

 

1 large Cauliflower
1 Egg
Salt and Freshly ground pepper, to taste
3/4 cup Flour
3/4 cup dry White Wine
Enough Oil for deep-frying

Procedure

 

Soak the cauliflower in a bowl of salted water. In a mixing bowl, beat the egg. Season well and beat in the flour. Add the wine and if necessary add a little more each time to make a fairly runny batter. The measurement above worked for me but you can adjust it to the thickness and consistency you desire.



Quickly blanch/boil or steam the cauliflower until just tender (not mushy). Do not overcook it. When it's a little cooler to handle, cut into small individual florets.

Heat the oil in a deep pan until it reaches about 375 F. I just wait for about 10-12 minutes 'cause I don't have a thermometer. One test to do to know if your oil is hot enough is to drop a small piece of bread in it - if it sizzles as soon as it's dropped then the oil is hot enough.

Dip each cauliflower floret into the batter and then deep-fry until nicely golden and crispy.
You may have to do this in batches. Do not soak them for a long time in the batter as they will be mushy.

Drain on paper towels to absorb extra oil and then sprinkle lightly with salt just before serving. Serve hot and enjoy!!!

Don't these cauliflower florets look gorgeous? Please enjoy!

If you like what you see and would like to receive new recipe updates we'd love you to subscribe to our posts and join our site. Also do like us in Facebook so you can get the latest updates and so much more. Thanks for visiting and happy browsing!