October 14, 2016Karen
Food,Recipes
It’s officially squash season and I am lovin’ it—I hardly miss summer. There are so many varieties, but one of my favorites is delicata squash. Unlike some other squashes, delicata cooks up quickly and it’s (relatively) easy to cut through, so a much more manageable squash to handle. Basically, perfect for frying! Okay, a few notes about this batter. It has vodka and beer—unfortunately, they won’t get you buzzed, but that carbonation and vodka, which evaporates quickly when it hits the oil, are the key for that ultra-light, crisp batter that practically shatters when you bite into it. Ugh, you know what I’m talking about! Top these delicata squash rings with fried fall herbs like sage or rosemary and a little flake sea salt and dip them in whatever you please. A garlic aioli would be over the top decadent, but I love them with just a little hot sauce. Please, please, please make these!
DELICATA SQUASH RINGS
Ingredients:
- 1-2 delicata squashcut into 1/4 inch rings
- 3/4 cup of all purpose flour, plus about a cup full to coat squash
- 1/2 cup of rice flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1 cup of any light ale, cold
- 1/2 cup of vodka
- peanut oil, grapeseed oil or any frying oil (enoughto fill a pot 1.5-2 inch deep)
- 1 teaspoon of onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder
Directions:
- Heat the oil to 320 degrees.
- Combine the flour, rice flour, baking soda, salt, onion and garlic powder, beer and vodka in a bowl and whisk just until you have a wet batter.
- Slice the delicata squash in rings about 1/4 inch thick. Dredge them in the extra flour.
- Coat them in the batter and tap off the excess batter.
- Fry the rings until golden on each side, about 1-1.5 minutes on each side. Remove and drain on a rack or paper towels. I like to use chopsticks for the frying process since they touch less of the wet batter than tongs would.
- When you’re done frying all the rings, drop the sprigs of rosemary in the oil for a minute on each side until it just starts to slightly brown. Remove the rosemary.
- Sprinkle the fried rosemary and extra flake sea salt over the rings.
(images by HonestlyYUM)
Conversation
No need to peel the slices? This recipe sounds great. Just pulled 30+ delicata from my garden. Can’t wait!
That’s what I’m wondering too, but I think because it’s such a delicate skin that it will be fine …
Oh good lord! That recipe is so good! Thanks sooo much! We ate soo much of it!! Aiaiaia… I had to buy a different pumpkin, because i couldnt find that one you describe – but it still works, if you steam the pumpkin approx 4 min before rolling in the batter… Thanks again and greetings from Berlin (Germany)
So glad you liked it– thanks Johan!
Can i substitute vodka or beer with others? Like rootbeer?
You could try substituting the vodka and beer with club soda. The purpose for the beer is the carbonation although I’m not sure about a non-alcoholic substitute for the vodka since the recipe needs the alcohol to evaporate quickly. Let me know how it goes with just club soda– thanks!
The first ingredient is “1-2 delicata squash cut into 1/2 inch rings”, then the third step starts “Slice the delicata squash in rings about 1/4 inch thick.” Wouldn’t it be simpler just to cut the squash into 1/4 inch rings while they’re whole, rather than trying to slice each 1/2 inch ring in half? Or is one of the two prep instructions extraneous?
Oh thanks for catching that Sean– that was a typo and I’ve corrected it. The rings should be about 1/4 inch thick. Thanks!!
I’m completely sucked in with these squash rings and love the vodka and beer tip! What a deal! I’ll take a double order of the aioli.. I love how creative this recipe is, the crunch factor and all the flavor! Delicious work!
i love squash in general but i have yet to try delicata and this sounds like a wonderful way to enjoy it.
Oh my goodness…I’m dying here. We absolutely *LOVE* delicata squash at Casa Homer. And to deep fry them as “onion-rings”? Holy mackerel Karen. I want, want, want! I have to make these this weekend. Wowzers! And as always, the photography is spot-on! <3
Ooh whenever we get vegetable tempura the sweet potato is always my favourite (because fried starchy things = <3) so this would be right up my alley 🙂
So crunchy and light.
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