A recipe not in the cookbook for fried zucchini blossoms
As I planted none of it, and have watered it sparingly, I can take no credit for the garden vegetables I’m getting regular access to this year. That doesn’t mean, however, that the thrill of picking and eating them abates. As a city kid whose main interaction with gardening centered on the non-edible, little makes me happier than realizing I don’t have to go shopping, and that my dinner is mostly waiting for me to pluck right outside my door.
A side effect of that is its a little overwhelming figuring out what to do with it all. I haven’t quite solved this, save for haphazardly remembering to gather vegetables to bring to friends in the city like my own tiny and ineffectual CSA as I’m running out the door, but hopefully I’ll create more of a system as time goes on.
It was in this running-out-the-door mode this week that I was inspired to fry squash blossoms. While dumping some dead lettuce on the compost pile, I came face to face with what appears to be an increasingly massive zucchini plant that has made a home there. The discard of a previous meal, the seeds have formed a new plant, much to everyone who has witnessed it’s delight. Zucchini blossoms are, to me, a real delicacy, immediately bringing to mind the salty shores of the Amalfi coast, particularly because of how delicate they are and how beautiful they look. (A flower! That you can eat!) So, in a fit of feeling fancy, I picked several to try out.
Once in my kitchen, I felt slightly daunted by my small friends, who seemed much pricklier than I’d thought they would be, particularly once I realized several of the recipes I consulted claimed that I’d need to differentiate between whether these blossoms were male or female (!?) and if they were the former, to remove the stamens. Since I had picked these without knowing there would be different kinds, I somehow ended up with all men. (Sickening, though apparently not my fault, if this article on gardeningknowhow.com is anything to be believed: “There are a lot more male squash blossoms than female and they begin blooming earlier.” I could go on further on everything I’ve learned about the sex of squash blossoms but for your sake I won’t.)
After taking a calming breath, I carefully made a slit in the flower and removed the pollen-y centers as instructed, scaring myself when a small bug was found crawling around inside of one. I then put them in a bath of ice water to clean them and keep them crisp, and set to making my batter, roughly following the instructions of a few recipes, which basically all said to use some combination of flour, a fizzy liquid—I used seltzer, because that’s what we had—and salt.
I then heated up some olive oil—not normally ideal for frying, but in my opinion the taste is necessary for something that has basically no ingredients—and proceeded to dredge the blossoms in the gloop. It was a little thicker than I’d imagined would be ideal, and they weren’t coated particularly thoughtfully, but once the oil got going, they crisped nicely, with only one a minimal splash on my arm that required icing. I then placed the blossoms on a cooling rack and topped them with some Malden.
I served them on top of a variation on that mustardy green bean salad I’ve mentioned before, this time with broccolini and pine nuts, and it was honestly delicious, more so than I thought it would be. At this point, you might be wondering: what does this have to do with Fave Recipes? Well, nothing and everything. I was rereading the cookbook this month and was reminded that the top section, Techniques & Tips, has this note in it: “None of these recipes are original; a recipe is a work in progress and eating is a matter of taste.” I feel certain this is exactly the kind of thing my dad would have made and loved, and if it wasn’t in the cookbook before, it’s in cookbook 2.0
Donation’s Time: Last month, $117.50 went to the Downtown Women’s Center. Next month, your money will go to The Sylvia Center, a New York Based organization that works to “teach young people about the connection between food and health through empowering, nutrition-driven, culinary-based programming.” As usual, you can switch to paid here.