Zucchini Flowers

[Elissa]

Piemontese cheeses are similar in style to, and as good or better than, the best French cheeses (whether goat's, cow's or sheep's milk, whether blue, hard or triple-creme), but unlike their French counterparts, which are often produced in commercial quantities, promoted heavily and widely exported, the Piemontese cheeses are generally made in tiny quantities for local consumption only.

Jeeze you'd think all of life were a football game. Though it does seem none of the best cheeses leave home...

But can we return to ricotta for a second? What you find here in the states is a wee bit sweet and bland. Is cheese cheese unless it's been aged? What distinguishes the ricottas you like best? While surely a ricotta wouldn't overtake a flower's flavor, I can't see what an aged goat would hamper. Please enlighten.

Edited August 13, 2003 by lissome (log)

[Adam Balic]

Acid in the goats cheese can kill the zucchini flower flavour. Ricotta is in the background.

[Bill Klapp]

lissome, so sorry! It's not a testosterone thing with the cheeses. I have never been known to turn down fine French cheeses, on political or any other grounds! It's just that my love affair with the Piemonte rages on unabated after 6 years. I, for one, am not down on the goat cheese stuffing concept, which I have actually had in Italy (both zucchini flowers and ravioli), but it all depends on the goat cheese used. It needs to be pretty mild and creamy. However, most of the Italian goat cheeses I have had are relatively milder than their French counterparts, which can be both good (for cooking and for those poor souls who are lukewarm on goat cheeses) and bad (you don't always get the characteristic acid edge that defines goat cheese for many).

[guajolote]

I'm making quesadillas with flor de calabaza and huitlacoche for dinner tonight .

I'm pretty sure they don't have huitlacoche in Italy .

[Elissa]

Was just invited to a wine event at Chanterelle with a menu to include "Steamed Zucchini Blossoms with Lobster-Shrimp Mousse Lemongrass and Basil Butter." Steamed hadn't occured to me, but this sounds interesting if potentially overwrought...To be paired with JN Gagnard Chassagne-Montrachet "Clos de la Maltroye" 1998

[Bill Klapp]

There is no reason why steaming (or baking, for that matter) would not work, if they are not overcooked and the moisture balance is good. If the lemongrass and basil are deftly handled, I'm betting on that dish...

[helenjp]

I thought they were just for show until I ate one...they taste WONDERFUL!

I like them stuffed with sushi rice. Mix in a little of what you fancy into the basic sushi rice, and pop a spoonful inside each flower.

[divina]

In Florence I buy the fresh sheep's cheese ricotta from Tillo, the mad cheese maker from San Casciano.. and do the batter fried as all do...I use an egg batter, mixing the yolk with flour, sal, nutmeg and white wine.. then folding in the beaten white...

Sometimes I take these ( If I have left overs)and bake them in a saffron infused sort of Quiche...

I am dreaming of making a dessert version.. filled with cheese with chocolate bits, deep fried and dusted with powdered sugar!

I adore the Roman mozzarella and Zucchini blossom pizza's with the tiny bit if Anchovy ( had a fabulous one at GUSTO)

One of the nicest versions I had was in Chianti.. filled with a baccala mousse, breaded and fried

The Italians are really fry masters! Think of tiny clouds.... the cheese barely heats inside!

Edited July 2, 2004 by divina (log)

[slebowitz]

Does anyone know why most recipes call for removing the stamens? I've been harvesting about a dozen male flowers a day from about 20 feet of pumpkin vines overtaking my compost pile (six pumpkins are growing nicely).

I've tried them lightly battered & fried, stuffed & fried, and sauteed--stamen, stem & all. The stamens provide a little more substance, particularly when sauteed. I haven't turned orange, keeled over, etc.

Perhaps the objection to eating stamens stems from their parallel to fauna anatomy. Any thoughts?

[Margaret Pilgrim]

Supposedly the stamens are bitter. I cook squash blossoms both ways, depending on how compusive I am at the time. I suppose that it depends on the variety, age of blossom both at time of harvest and how long it has been kept before cooking, etc, etc. If you are happy with the finished product when you have not bothered removing the stamen, I guess you have answered your own question. It's no longer a problem for me this season; I got so tired of thinking up blossom presentations three or four times a week that I told my husband he could uproot said prolific plants and put them in the compost! Gone.

[bleudauvergne]

We had fleurs de courgettes for lunch today. I used goat cheese but also agree with Adam about tangy goat cheese and its effect on the balance of the dish, it should be a very fresh mild cheese or even fresh farm cow's cheese in my opinion.

[docsconz]

Lucy, that looks marvellous! How did you cook them?

[scordelia]

I like them stuffed with cheese and fried, but I also make squash blossom rissotto, souffles and spaghetti carbonara with fresh shredded squash blossoms.

[bleudauvergne]

Lucy, that looks marvellous! How did you cook them?

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They're stuffed with available summer veggies, herbs and cheeses, John. It's an old standard in my kitchen notebook. I put them in a 200C/400C oven for a half an hour and voila, served over some slow melted peppers and onions, it's lunch. We've done this with both a tangy aged chevre and younger, milder cheeses, and also with fresh farmer's cow cheese, and the milder cheeses balance better with the rest of the flavors. I would even go as far as to recommend Philadelphia cream cheese for a recipe like this. Around here the flowers are only at the markets for a week or maybe two. I have always stuffed them this way but this year I think I am going to be trying out a slew of new recipes.

Hey I have a question! I read in this topic that some are partial to the male flowers, which are the ones without the fruit. Why? Do they taste better? I have always chosen the female flowers, just because I feel they make a better presentation at the table with the pretty fruit and all, not differentiating them on flavor. Should I be choosing the male flowers at the market? There's always a mix, and the male flowers cost 10 centimes less...

[docsconz]

Lucy, that looks marvellous! How did you cook them?

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Hey I have a question! I read in this topic that some are partial to the male flowers, which are the ones without the fruit. Why? Do they taste better? I have always chosen the female flowers, just because I feel they make a better presentation at the table with the pretty fruit and all, not differentiating them on flavor. Should I be choosing the male flowers at the market? There's always a mix, and the male flowers cost 10 centimes less...

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Thanks for the cooking explanation, Lucy. I have always had them fried or cooked in a broth. Yours didn't look fried.

Others may know differently, but I believe the preference for male flowers is really acommercial one as their harvest does not impede the harvest of mature zucchini. They may also be easier to stuff and fry. I'm with you though. If done right, I love the flowers with the baby squash as a nice bonus.

[Pontormo]

John: Lucy neglected to direct you to her personal food blog. Click below her signature line and you'll see a long entry documenting her method. Replacing radishes, the blossoms in her new avatar offer a detail from the beautiful accompanying photographs.

Lucy: When a local farmer gave me half a dozen small zucchini with attached blossoms, the flowers accommodated no more than a tablespoon of cheese. The quandry for me was cooking the squash sufficiently, especially since I hankered for crisp, battered blossoms. I can't find the thread I started to seek advice; it may have been incorporated into one of the many threads devoted to the topic in the Cooking forum.

Edited August 14, 2006 by Pontormo (log)

[bleudauvergne]

Sorry to be neglectful.

I notice that the little fruits attached to the blossom have a 'flowery' taste, which comes out especially when baked until very soft, or on second day. I chose the baking method initially because in my experience I had some disasters and can't seem to get consistent results when I fry them. I know it has everything to do with my inability to keep the oil at the right temperature. My ventilation system is not what it should be either. The oil usually goes up in smoke and ends up everywhere.

The next recipe I am going to try is one by a chef here in Lyon. He fills them with a stuffing containing cracked bulghur, herbs, etc. and nestles the flowers blossom side down in a dish - just before cooking he adds meat stock and covers tightly. This is done with the male flowers.

[scordelia]

Lovely website and the recipe sounds fabulous, but what kind of zucchini do you have in France? Your squash flowers are much bigger than mine. I am using an Italian vareity of seed, but I would love to know what is being used where you are from.

[docsconz]

John:  Lucy neglected to direct you to her personal food blog.  Click below her signature line and you'll see a long entry documenting her method.  Replacing radishes, the blossoms in her new avatar offer a detail from the beautiful accompanying photographs.

Lucy: When a local farmer gave me half a dozen small zucchini with attached blossoms, the flowers accommodated no more than a tablespoon of cheese.  The quandry for me was cooking the squash sufficiently, especially since I hankered for crisp, battered blossoms.  I can't find the thread I started to seek advice; it may have been incorporated into one of the many threads devoted to the topic in the Cooking forum.

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Thanks for the suggestion!

Lucy, that is a stunning website. As always the photos are marvellous and your information and commentary superb - truly one of the best I've seen.

[bleudauvergne]

Lovely website and the recipe sounds fabulous, but what kind of zucchini do you have in France? Your squash flowers are much bigger than mine. I am using an Italian vareity of seed, but I would love to know what is being used where you are from.

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Well, I can ask what kind they are growing, I purchase my flowers at the market, they vary in size. Many recipes I have found in French call for smaller flowers, so I would not be too upset about having smaller flowers. Asking at the market about what varieties they are growing - I have to warn you that I most likely will not get a definitive answer. We might call in Ptipois to see if she has any answers to this question.

[divina]

We mostly use the males for frying as there is nothing else to do with them!

the best stuffed zucchini with flower, the same size of Lucy's, was at the Molin du Mougin about 25 years ago when I went to cooking school there.

The tiny zucchini... was sliced to cook faster and the blossom was filled with a duxelle of mushrooms and a WHOLE back truffle.

then steamed.

I ate one everyday for the whole week!

[orangeman747]

I think it would have to be a simple stuffed zucchini flower with herbed goat cheese and battered and deep fried.

As I do not grow zucchini flowers, does where do people buy their zucchini flowers? I have found them very difficult to find, even at farmers markets.... any suggestions (Boston area especially).

Thanks.