Wednesday night Heather and Dianne came over for a local homemade dinner. I agonized about the menu for about a week, and finally decided on sauteed stuffed squash blossoms over a simple salad.
Like clafoutis, squash blossoms seem to be making their rounds this summer. And like clafoutis, they are surprising and delicious. There are many recipes out there for battered and fried squash blossoms, such as at Last Night’s Dinner (a favorite food blog of mine) and this very interesting recipe that has them fried and drizzled with honey. But I wanted something less heavy and a bit simpler. I finally came across a recipe from Gardening in Central Florida that simply sautees the blossoms in olive oil until golden brown.
I bought my blossoms at the Ferry Building Farmer’s Market and they were a bit limp, but usable. Dianne helped me pluck out the stamens from inside the blossoms, and I prepared a mixture of ricotta cheese from the Cowgirl Creamery, basil (from my struggling plant on our porch), salt, and pepper. I stuffed the cheese mixture gently into the blossoms, twisting the ends closed and placing them in the fridge on a plate for a few minutes to chill. I then tore up some lettuce, sliced some heirloom tomatoes (both from the farmer’s market), and put out some sweet spiced nuts. Once the blossoms were chilled, I heated olive oil in a large pan and added some minced garlic, and sauteed the blossoms until browned, placing them on paper towels to soak up the excess oil. We ate them served over the salad, which allowed the cheese, tomatoes, nuts, lettuce, and dressing to all be eaten together.
The blossoms came out really well, but next time I would definitely add more basil, salt, and pepper to the ricotta cheese. I would also add the garlic to the mixture, rather than to the oil, for more flavor.
For dessert we had homemade vanilla ice cream with lavender shortbread cookies from Miette, as well as some delicious candied coconut from Maui that Dianne brought.
Not the lovliest looking flowers, but quite tasty!
my mom’s been making fried zucchini flowers for ages. her grandma used to make them, too. for the batter, makes sure to add parmasean or romano to it, for a nice saltiness. hers aren’t stuffed, just left as is, dipped in the batter and fried until golden brown and delicious.
the ones you made look like they’d make a great appetizer!
That sounds like a delicious recipe! I will have to try it next time.
You’re very correct, they would have made a great appetizer, perhaps skewered on a toothpick with some grilled sqaush or something.
actually, for the next growing season, if you have plenty of space, you can easily grow your own zucchini. it’ll grow anywhere and you’ll get plenty of these flowers totally fresh.
We’re planning a garden for next year, and summer squashes are on our list!