Home cooking: Crumbed Zucchini Flowers with Herbed Ricotta (24 May 2010)

The challenge of zucchini flowers

OMG ... I take my hat off to anyone that can cook stuffed zucchini flowers. I never knew what I was getting myself into when I tried stuffing these babies — it was so messy and fiddly! These were bought directly from the supplier John & Carmel Zavaglia who had a stall at Primo Italiano Festival 2010. I noticed they also stock them at Royal Randwick Fruit Market for the same price but they were in a fresher and better state directly from the market grower. I think I might have even seen them selling them at Eveleigh Farmers Market too. The flowers came with an A4 sheet of eight recipes so I made my recipe variation combining two of them. The messy part from egging and crumbing them and the awkward part from stuffing them. Luckily I had a piping bag but at times I felt like I needed an extra hand. I accidently broke two of the stems by trying to twist and remove the inner stigma so I gave up doing this — not even sure if it was necessary in the end. I fondly remember MUMU Grill stuffed zucchini flowers but they had a different type of batter — I think it was a tempura style batter.

Ingredients:

6-8 zucchini flowers

2 eggs (1 might be enough)

1/4 cup of Parmesan (I used less than this)

Bunch of parsley

Mixed herbs

Salt and Pepper

Butter or Vegetable oil for frying (I used olive oil but think vegetable oil might have been a better choice)

Breadcrumbs (I used Panko breadcrumbs)

Filling:

Ricotta, grated parmesan cheese, salt, pepper, finely chopped fresh parsley

Instructions:

Fill the ricotta flowers using a piping pack with the filling. Twist the flower petals to close.

Beat the two eggs in a bowl and coat the zucchini flowers. Another recipe said to flour first so I tried half of them with this technique.

In another bowl mix together the breadcrumbs, cheese, dry mixed herbs, salt and pepper.

Roll the zucchinis in the dry mixture then shallow fry in butter or oil until lightly brown.

Place on absorbent paper to drain before serving.

SNAPSHOT REVIEW:

PROS: Versatile for recipes ie fried, baked, stir fry, Tastes great when cooked correctly, Cheap to buy

CONS: Very fiddly, messy and delicate to stuff

MUST TRY: Finding the perfect simple recipe

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Breadcrumbs, parmesan, herbs and spices

Beaten egg

Filling of ricotta, parmesan, parsley, salt, pepper

Stuffing the zucchini flower with a piping bag

Stuffed flowers (with a couple of casualties of war)

Egged and crumbed zucchini flowers

Shallow frying the flowers

Drain cooked flowers on absorbent paper

Ready to eat — watch out for the creamy filling