Ingredients

Servings 6

• 2 lb zucchini, small
• 6 tablespoons vinegar
• 6 tablespoons sugar

Preparation

20 minutes preparation + 10 minutes cooking

Cut the zucchini into disks and fry in oil.
Arrange them tidily when they are fried in a Pyrex oven dish. Once they are in position, dissolve the sugar over low heat in the vinegar and pour it hot over the fried zucchini.
Put back onto the heat for a few minutes and serve hot.

These are also wonderful in the summer served cold.

Food History

Sweet and sour sauces can be traced back to the ancient use of mixing sweet ingredients with more acidic ones to create strange, intense flavors. In fact, there are traces of “agrodolce” flavors from the Roman Age when they were made pairing honey with vinegar. From the Latin period to the Middle Ages, the passion for agrodolce remained, but the recipes began calling for more complex ingredients and the variety of products used strengthened the both the sweet and sour flavors. Various fruits, especially citrus, were used to give the acidity, for example, while the sweetness came from dates, dried grapes and sugar, imported into Sicily by the Arabs under Frederick II. Almonds and hazelnuts were used to thicken the other ingredients.
The agrodolce flavor maintained its popularity until the 12th century when French cuisine became the dominant cooking style. From 1600 on, the passion of agrodolce continued to diminish, finally becoming a flavor present only in sauces and a few dishes passed down through the centuries.

Other suggested recipes

• Sweet and Sour Cipollini Onions
• Sweet and Sour Meatballs
• Sweet and Sour Peppers