Molly’s Fiori di Zucchine Ripieni e Fritti

Do you ever read a recipe in a cookbook or on someone’s blog and decide against doing it because you just can’t picture what it looks like, or how you’d know if you are on the right track? When I first started cooking, this was definitely a problem for me. What the hell is a “soft peak” for instance? How would I, someone who has never made soft peaks from whipping cream before, recognize them?

It struck me that, after talking about making stuffed zucchini blossoms last week, it would be better to show you how to do it. Frankly, I’d read about stuffing these delicate flowers for years before trying it myself. Instead I’d throw ‘em in a fritatta or use them on bruschetta or flatbread. I’d also eat them by the bucketfull when I was in Italy, thinking I might as well stock up since monkeys would fly out of my butt before I’d start fiddling around with stuffing flowers. After making them myself maybe a half dozen times now, I’ve come up with the following recipe and method that works for me.

Ingredients:

Approximately 2 dozen zucchini blossoms
6 – 8 ounces soft goat cheese
2 eggs
1 cup flour
Crushed red pepper flakes
Sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil

Notes: This dish gives you a LOT of leeway. Knock yourself out.
(1) You can stuff the blossoms with virtually anything you want. I’ve seen them stuffed with ricotta, a mixture of ricotta and asiago, cheese and shrimp, cheese and anchovy, cheese and vegetables, and once, even pasta. The above is just a combination of flavors that I like, but I do think that these are better kept as simple as possible.
(2) Some recipes will instruct you to remove the pistil from the inside of the flower. I’ve only done this once, because the pistil looked moldy. Keeping them in there makes no real difference that I can tell (imagining Italian grannies fainting).
(3) I use a simple dip-in-egg, dredge-in-flour method to coat the blossoms. You could also make a batter with egg, flour, dry white wine, and some water and olive oil. This makes the batter lighter and more like a tempura.

Steps:

1. Rinse the blossoms and gently pat them dry.

Zucchini Blossoms. (c) Finom. By Molly Hovorka

2. Mash the goat cheese with sea salt, black pepper, and crushed red pepper to taste. I like them with a kick, so I use a generous 1.5 TBS of red pepper, maybe more.

Stuffing for Zucchini Blossoms. (c) Finom. Molly Hovorka

3. Beat the eggs with a fork until they are light yellow.

4. Place the flour on a plate and mix it with sea salt and black pepper to taste. I’d guess that I use about 1 TSP of salt and a bit more than that of pepper.

5. Lay everything out assembly line style. Notice that I’ve included a glass of wine in this photo. I like to have a glass of wine while I’m cooking for three reasons: first, it tastes good; second, if you’re mucking around with cooking with flowers, you’d want a drink too; and third, if you screw it up, you can always blame the wine.

I think it’s easiest to break the rest down into two main steps:

A. Stuff all the blossoms.
B. Dip in flour and dredge in egg.

If you stuff-dip-dredge, stuff-dip-dredge, your hands will get way too messy to stuff the next blossom. So, stuff, then dip-dredge, dip-dredge.

Blossom Stuffing Assembly Line. (c) Finom. By Molly Hovorka

6. Stuff the blossoms. This is the fiddliest part of the recipe. First, try to open the top of the flower. This is usually easier said than done, but you will basically find a point that open a little bit. From here, gently tear the blossom down toward the base. You don’t want to go all the way down; you want to leave room at the bottom to sort of “cup” the stuffing.Then, use a spoon to scoop some of the goat cheese mixture into the blossom.

Blossom with Goat Cheese Inside. (c) Finom. By Molly Hovorka

7. Gently fold one flap of the blossom over the stuffing onto the other side of the blossom. Gently twist the top to close it all up and hold it together. (Apologies for overuse of gently. It’s really the best word to use here. It’s like giving CPR to a hummingbird. You have to be gentle. If you do these moves too strongly, the whole damn thing will fall apart and you’ll just wind up making a fritatta.)

8. When all of the blossoms are stuffed, dip each in egg and then dredge in the flour mixture so that the blossom is coated all over.

Blossoms Dredged in Flour. (c) Finom. By Molly Hovorka

9. Heat olive oil over medium high to high heat. I like to do this in a dutch oven to keep the oil from spattering all over the place. Also, keep an eye on that oil. Olive oil has a low smoking point, so you do not have to heat it very long before you can start frying your blossoms. You don’t need so much oil as to submerge the blossoms; I fill the pot about 1/8 to 1/4 inch deep.

10. When the oil is hot and shimmering, place about half of the blossoms in the oil. Don’t overcrowd them; fry them in two or three batches. Fry about 2 minutes per side, until they are golden brown all over, then remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels.

Frying Zucchini Blossoms. (c) Finom. By Molly Hovorka

11. Sprinkle with a bit more of sea salt and a turn or two of freshly ground black pepper.

Molly's Fiori di Zucchine Ripieni e Fritti. (c) Finom. By Molly Hovorka

Admittedly, these are a pain to make, but ohhhh, they are a bit of heaven to eat! Two last notes: I like to have these with a green salad for dinner. If you are eating something fried, at least have some greens! And, these are beautiful with a cold, dry white wine from Sicily.

Green Salad. (c) Finom. By Molly Hovorka

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