FRITTO MISTO
4 servings
This Italian “mixed fry” can be composed of a wide variety of vegetables and seafood. We recommend always including the sage and lemon slices. Please read about Deep-Frying.
Preheat the oven to 200°F.
Prepare:
Set aside. Have ready about 1 ½ pounds total of a combination of any of the following:
- Medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
- Fresh sardines, fresh or marinated white anchovies, or other tiny fish
- Baby octopus or squid tentacles
- Maitake or enoki mushrooms, broken apart into small clusters
- Baby artichokes, halved, or drained and dried marinated artichoke hearts
- Asparagus or slender green beans, cut into 2-inch pieces
- Thinly sliced onion or red onion, or green onions cut into 2-inch pieces
- Thinly sliced fennel bulb
- Sage leaves
- Thin lemon slices, seeds discarded
Heat to 365°F in a deep-fryer, deep heavy pot, or Dutch oven:
- 2 inches vegetable oil
Dip the vegetables and fish or seafood in the batter and fry, in batches, until lightly browned and crisp, 3 to 5 minutes. It is easier to fry one ingredient at a time than to mix them together, as they cook at different rates. Lemon slices and sage leaves cook especially quickly. Use a slotted spoon or spider to transfer the food to a rack set over a baking sheet. Sprinkle the food immediately after it is removed from the oil with:
- Salt
Keep warm in the oven while you fry the rest of the food. Serve with:
- Lemon wedges