Spring is in full bloom in southern California and with it comes strawberries, cucumbers, and zucchini. Seriously, if there's ever a zombie apocalypse, first thing in the ground is zucchini. You’ll have food for an army. I swear, they literally appear overnight and you can put zucchini in almost anything. In my best Bubba voice, “zucchini bread, zucchini pickled, zucchini fried, zucchini sautéed, stuffed zucchini, zucchini noodles….” But did you know you can eat the blossoms too?!! Talk about a multi-purpose plant!
This time of the year is great to scope out the farmers markets for bags of squash blossoms. I grabbed the last bag at the market this weekend. There are a variety of things you can make with them, but my favorite way is stuffed with a cheese filling and fried. This time I’m experimenting with baked.
I recommend making these lovelies for a simple easy Sunday brunch with friends complemented with a cool breeze and Louis Armstrong. Toss in a hammock and wind chimes for good measure.
Begin by giving the ladies a gentle rinse in cool water. There’s often a few lingering critters that didn’t receive their eviction notice when they were plucked from the ground. Lay them out to dry on a clean towel.
Measure into a mixing bowl, 1/2 cup of ricotta cheese and sprinkle in 1/4 cup of shredded parmesan. Mix in bit of salt and pepper.
I originally thought basil would be nice, but since we found the basil plant hanging on to life with a few limp leaves, we were lured by the sage. A few fresh sage springs along with their flowers are perfect for this!
Back to the kitchen, we made a chiffonade of about 2 T of fresh sage to stir into the cheese mixture.
To make filling the squash blossoms as easy as possible, we scooped the cheese mixture into a plastic bag, pressing all of the mixture toward one bottom corner and snipping a small hole at the end of the bag. Using your make-shift pastry bag, gently open the blossom and squeeze the filling little more than halfway into the blossom, being careful not to overfill. Gently press the petals closed and place onto a baking sheet. Mist with an oiled baking spray.
Put into a 325 degree oven for about 15 minutes, keeping an eye out for the delicate petals.
While the blossoms are warming in the oven, mash an avocado into a mixing bowl with a dash of salt and squeeze of lemon juice. Mix till chunky delicious and slice up the best tomatoes you can find.
This is a good time to turn your bread to toast and carefully pluck the sage blossoms for garnish.
Then, we build. Layer the toast with a chunky layer of mashed avocado, dressing with tomatoes (we “dress” our food in the south) and gently lay a warm crispy squash blossom on top.
Garnish with salt, pepper, sage blossoms, and a little crumbly cheese. I made the mistake with grabbing gorgonzola, but would recommend feta or a soft goat cheese. Serve with a lemon wedge and for extra heaven, a poached egg.
Bon Appetit !!
