Maltagliati con salsiccia e fiori di zucca

What are Italian “fiori di zucca”?

Fiori di zucca are the orange-yellow flowers of the zucchina plant. Italian home cooks pick the male blooms (the ones without a tiny zucchini at the base) early in the morning when they’re still open. Stuffed with mozzarella and acciuga, dipped in batter and fried, they become fiori fritti; raw and torn into pasta they melt into a delicate sauce. Outside Italy they’re treated as a luxury restaurant item; in summer Lazio and Campania they’re a free garden product.

In this Nonna Silvi reel, leftover lasagne pasta gets reborn with field-fresh fiori di zucca: trim, rinse, slice into ribbons. The recipe is twenty seconds and assumes the viewer already knows the gesture.