I bought these cute little patty pan squashes with their blossoms still attached at the farmers market a couple weeks ago. My initial plans was to open & stuff the blossoms before frying, but I decided they were too little for that. So, I simply fried them whole & ate them with a marinara sauce.
To prepare the squashes, you have to first snap off the stem on the bottom.
Then, gently open the flower and take out the orange & white pistil in the center. You can eat these, but they are bitter.
I used Anne's "better batter" recipe from the Kitchen Conservatory blog. She mixes 1 egg with 2 tablespoons of baking powder. At first, this won't look like it will work but after a while it creates a foamy batter that fries up to a light and crispy coating that sticks well to your food.
Dip your food into the batter, then coat it with seasoned flour. Fry in 350 degree oil until well-browned.
This is the first squash we fried; notice that we didn't remove the pistil on the left.
Thank you for posting. I have a couple of gardens and my husband was just asking me if I wanted the blossoms.
ReplyDeleteNot know what to do with them, I said no.
Now I can try and have to ask, have you ever stuffed larger ones, if so, with what and do you fry as well?
I have never tried making these but I do love to eat them. Your pictures look great. Have you tried frying in rice bran oil?
ReplyDeleteWhen you pick just the blossoms, make sure to pick the males (they have a stamen in the middle that looks different from females. Google this to find pics), because the male flowers do not become fruit (the female flowers do). Be sure to leave a few males on the plants to pollinate the females.
ReplyDeleteYou can stuff them with an herbed ricotta, secure the stuffed flower by pinching together and gently twisting the top closed, then deep fry.
The blossoms are also good in mixed into risotto & on pizza!
I've never trying rice bran oil.
I may have to try that batter as part of my quest to find 3,456 different ways to cook yellow summer squash (I have a lot of squash from my garden right now. A lot.)
ReplyDeleteFor Little Ms. Blogger-- you can tell male squash blossoms from female by looking at the bottom; you don't even have to open them. (They are only fully open in the morning so you would have to push them open to check whether they were, ahem, packing, a male stamen or a female pistil).
The females have a noticeable rounded green or yellow bump at the bottom that looks like the beginning of a baby squash. The males do not. If you pick the male flowers, make sure you leave at least one or two per plant to fertilize the female flowers.
Oh! Those are almost too cute to fry. But they are good, arent' they.
ReplyDeletehave you tried them with a tempura batter. Lite.