Frying in front of friends can rattle even seasoned home cooks. There’s the hot oil, the timing, the live audience. Odette Williams has a fix: zucchini fritte from British chef Jess Shadbolt, a dish that’s on the menu at Jupiter in New York. No deep frying, no beer batter. Just matchsticks of zucchini crisped in about an inch of oil, the kind of plate you keep refilling while friends gather at the counter.
Why It Works
Shadbolt worked at the River Cafe in London before opening King, Dean’s and Jupiter in New York. Her batter skips beer or soda, a common route to a bubbly coating. It leans on egg whites instead. The whites hold the batter together, help it grip the zucchini and puff it into something light and crunchy.
Rice flour, with its high starch content, keeps the texture very light, and tempura flour can stand in if rice flour’s hard to find. The finished fries are vegetarian and gluten-free, which quietly solves a few guest-list puzzles at once.
Very little goes to waste. The leftover yolks can become an aioli for dipping, and the zucchini cores can go into a breakfast omelet.
Hosting Without the Splurge
“I’ll cook fritte when I want to treat a few of my friends,” Williams writes. They snack and talk around her kitchen counter while she keeps the plate full. Lemon, flaky salt and a mineral-driven white wine are all the ceremony it needs.
Serving it with a bigger dinner, say grilled fish? Fry ahead and keep it warm in a low oven, which spares you the live audience. The batter can even be made ahead and revived with a whisk.
That’s the budget lesson hiding in a zucchini. A memorable evening doesn’t require a pricey spread. It needs one dish people talk about and a host who isn’t frazzled. Spend on the moment, not the menu.