Every Sunday morning, my boyfriend and I take a morning walk to the farmers market, and lucky for us it is only a few steps from our front door. We buy produce at the farmers market year round, but there’s something extra exciting about the the ingredients found at the farmers market in the fall, like the various types of squash, rapini (broccoli rabe), squash flowers, and root vegetables just to name a handful.

I feel I have a special connection to some of these ingredients as they were foods from my childhood, that my Dad would specifically cook during the fall months. My family is a Halloween family, celebrating to the max every October, meaning lots and lots of pumpkins. Many of these pumpkins and squash made it onto our dinner plates after being used as decor. Some of these ingredients are also popular in Italian cuisine, such as squash flowers……oh, how delicious they are….

This blog will be broken up in two parts- in each post we will cover a recipe or two, inspired by these fall ingredients. And as always, I encourage you to buy these locally, from your farmer’s market, and buy organic. They look like they are straight from your own garden, which makes the cooking experience even more memorable 🙂

Stuffed & Fried Squash Flowers  Fiori di zucca fritti

My absolutely favorite fall appetizer are stuffed and fried squash flowers. They are such a treat, as squash flowers can only be found this time of year. These act as a perfect appetizer before dinner, or as part of an afternoon lunch.

Ingredients:

12 squash flowers (the larger, the better)

8 ounces fresh ricotta

3-4 twigs of thyme

1 medium shallot

Pinch of salt & pepper

1/4 tsp Italian Seasoning

Squeeze of lemon (approx. 1 tsp)

2 eggs

1- 1/12 cups flour

Olive Oil (for frying)

And we begin….

1. Make ricotta mixture: Finely chop the thyme and shallot. In a bowl, mix the ricotta, thyme, and shallot together. Mix in the Italian Seasoning and lemon. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix well.

2. Prep your work space: Prep the eggs and flour for the dipping and frying process. Get two bowls- fill one bowl with the two eggs, and beat eggs with a fork. Fill the second bowl with the flour- add a pinch of salt and pepper to the flour. In a line on your counter, lay the following in a row to keep the process clean and easy: squash flowers, bowl of ricotta mixture, an empty plate, the bowl of beaten eggs, and the bowl of flour. Line these up so the bowl of flour is close to your stovetop so you can go right from the flour to the frying pan.

3. Begin stuffing process: Very gently, open up the top of the squash flower, and with a small spoon fill with a spoonful of the ricotta mixture. This part can be difficult, but be patient! Squash flowers are extremely delicate, and a couple may be broken in the process. Practice will make perfect. Only add enough ricotta to fill the bottom area of the flower; too much will overflow and be messy during the frying process.

4. Once flower is stuffed, place it on the empty plate in preparation for the egging and flouring. Since the stuffing part can be time consuming, stuff all the flowers first, collecting them on the empty plate, and then do the frying process. Otherwise, you may feel rushed to keep them from getting soggy.

5. At this time, heat up your frying pan! Place a medium to large frying pan on the stovetop and heat over medium. We are pan frying, not deep frying, so fill the pan with just enough olive oil to completely cover the bottom of the pan. You will probably need to add more olive oil after each batch of flowers.

6. The frying process: Now that all the flowers are stuffed, take a flower and gently dip it into the bowl of beaten eggs, turning it so the whole flower is covered. When pulling it out, let the excess egg drip off for a moment before dipping in the flour.

7. Next, dip the flower into the bowl of flour, once again turning it to completely cover the whole  flower. When pulling it out, gently shake off any excess flour.

8. Make sure your pan and olive oil are heated. If so, place the flower into the pan. Repeat steps 6 and 7 for a few more flowers, enough to fill the pan, but not squish them. Fry on each side for about two minutes. They are ready to turn when they are a light golden brown.

9. Remove the flowers from the pan, and place on a plate covered with a couple layers of paper towel. This will help remove the excess oil. Once all the flowers are fried, they’re ready to be served!

How to Serve: fried squash flowers are served best one of three ways. Squeeze lemon on top, dip in marinara sauce, or dip in ketchup. 

*Tip: If this recipe sounds delicious, but you simply don’t have the time or patience for the stuffing part, try frying these without the ricotta stuffing inside. They are also very delicious that way, and most times growing up we actually ate them like that, without being stuffed.

Either way, enjoy and MANGIA! 🙂

Italian word of the day:

Fiore (n) = flower (or fiori = flowers)

*(pronunciation: fee-or-eh)