Deep Fried Zucchini Blossoms and More!

I may have stumbled upon the healthiest, tastiest bar-worthy food ever:

I made a really great purchase at the farmer’s market yesterday, and I didn’t even realize it.  I walked up to one of the stands, looking for lettuce or asparagus, and what I found was zucchini blossoms.  Partially closed zucchini plant flowers were standing, bright and golden in the sun, with a sign next to them touting their nutritional qualities.  I wasn’t quite sure what to do with them, but it seemed like the kind of thing that was going fast, so I bought a bunch.  I also bought two gigantic zucchinis.

I got home and with thoughts about what to do with these flowers, I turned to the internet.  Type “zucchini blossom recipe” into google, and you will instantly be told that frying is the only way to eat them. Well maybe not the only way, but I was sold.  I also saw that stuffing them with goats’ cheese or cream cheese was popular, and this set my wheels spinning.

And with that ladies and gentlemen, I present to you my fried zucchini blossoms and zucchini medallions:

Serves 4-6

1 large zucchini – sliced into thick medallions

1 bunch of zucchini blossoms – rinsed and fully dried with the pollen bits removed

4 tablespoons of goats cheese

1 big bunch of fresh chives – finely diced

4 eggs

1.5 cup of flour

.25 cup milk (I used soy milk)

coarse salt

pepper

.5 cup oil – I used regular olive oil, but veggie oil would do fine as well

What to do:

Mix the goats cheese and chives together in a bowl until the cheese is soft and chives are evenly distributed.  Very carefully open each blossom and spoon the mixture inside, trying to fill about 1-1.5 inches.  Gently twist the flower tips to close the blossom.

In a heavy pan, heat the oil over medium heat.  Combine the eggs, milk, and .5 cup of flour in a bowl to create a slurry. Add salt and pepper to taste.  Spread the remaining cup of flour onto a plate.

Dredge the blossoms through the slurry and then the dry flour before placing into the hot oil.  Watch the blossoms carefully to see when the flour bits on the bottom start to brown and then flip.  Cooking time will vary with the temperature of your oil, but in general it should take about 2-3 minutes to cook.  Warning: don’t overcrowd the pan!

Dredge the zucchini medallions in the same way as the blossoms, slurry, then flour, before placing in the pan.  Use a similar method to cook the medallions, watching for the flour to brown on the underside of the medallion and flipping.  The zucchini will take a little longer to cook, about 5 minutes.  As stated before, do not overcrowd the pan!  Make sure you have enough room to flip the medallions without them touching one another.

Remove from the pan and place on a plate covered in paper towels and allow the oil to drain off.

I ate my fried tasties with sriracha, which countered the creamy goats cheese very nicely.