Ricotta cheese

Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms with Herbed Ricotta

My garden is THRIVING right now. While it’s only an 8×6 plot of land, managing the veggies has been quite an adventure. Without a doubt, three years into the greening of my thumb and the zucchini plant still overwhelms me.

Have you watched a zucchini plant grow in a garden? The tiny little leafed plant turned into a monster overnight; something resembling a plant from the Little Shop of Horrors. I was overwhelmed and fearful. The elephant-sized leaves eclipsed the tomato plant. The thick roots jutted across the soil and crushed my rosemary. After a week, thanks to the robust zucchini plant, my garden looked like an overgrown mess.

Little did I know that hiding underneath all the chaos were beautiful yellow zucchini blossoms. And, zucchini blossoms are edible flowers! You can literally pick them off the plant and eat them raw. When you do, you’ll enjoy a sweet flavor with a very slight hint of zucchini. I decided to try making a version of Mom’s stuffed zucchini I found in her archives.

Mom’s stuffed zucchini blossoms recipes was half complete which is so frustrating to a burgeoning cook like myself. Having never cooked zucchini flowers, I needed to find a a recipe that allowed me to fill in the holes, not excluding a single step.

Lucky for me, I rode my bike down the street to consult the local farmer at the farm stand for his wisdom and guidance. I soon learned that there are two different types of zucchini flowers, male and female.

The female flower is a golden blossom on the end of each emergent zucchini.

Female Blossoms with emergent zucchinis

The male flower grows directly on the stem of the zucchini plant in the leaf axils on a long stalk, and is slightly smaller than the female.

Male Blossoms on thin stems

I only picked the male flowers because the female flowers were attached to 2 inch baby zucchini hopefuls already starting to plump into their future form. Also, I was instructed to look for vibrant, fresh-looking zucchini blossoms that are tightly closed. And, since the flowers are very delicate and perishable, it is best to use them that same day. I did pick extra blossoms that I stored for a two days in the refrigerator floating in a container of ice water.

The Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms with Ricotta Cheese recipe I tweaked was amazing and surprisingly very easy to prepare. I felt like I was in a biology plot lab class when I had to cut open the male flowers to remove their stamens before stuffing them with the ricotta cheese mixture.

Removing the stamen from the male blossoms

I loved dunking the flowers into the batter. I delicately placed them in the skillet to start the deep fry process. Within minutes, the blossoms once growing on the stem were stuffed, fried and ready to be eaten.

Final stuffed zucchini blossoms

My 7-year old was definitely hesitant to try the blossoms. He was actually quite defensive, proclaiming he “likes zucchini” but he “doesn’t like to eat flowers”. When I told him it was fried and would taste like dough with cheese in the middle, he couldn’t resist. And, quite honestly, I couldn’t resist either. To date, this is probably the most unique (sounding) dish I’ve ever attempted to make.

My first bite was thrilling. The crunch, oily fried outside gave way to an immediate burst of warmed, oozing ricotta cheese with herbs. It was so tasty and wonderful. I couldn’t really taste any of the actual flower in there but, it didn’t matter. I had cooked another item homegrown in my garden.

And, my 7-year old gave it two thumbs up, too– a win win in my book.

Go ahead, try it!

Stuffed Zucchini Blossoms with Herbed Ricotta

adapted from Food and Style

yield: 16 blossoms

Ingredients:

Batter

1 cup white flour
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3/4 cup warm water
1 large egg

Ricotta stuffing

1 large egg – lightly beaten
1 cup fresh ricotta cheese
3 tablespoons finely chopped garden herbs (rosemary, basil, oregano, thyme and sage)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
freshly ground pepper to taste

16 large or 20 small fresh zucchini flowers
1/2 cup olive oil for pan-frying (or enough oil to cover the pan generously)

Instructions:

For the batter – Mix flour, salt and water in a large bowl. Set aside and let stand for 1 hour. Just before dipping the flowers into the batter whisk in the egg.
For the stuffing – Mix the egg, ricotta, herbs, salt and pepper until well blended and set aside.
To stuff the flowers – Make a slit lengthwise in each flower and remove the stamen. Using a spoon, place a small amount of the stuffing at the base of each flower and twist the petals so that the stuffing is held safely inside the flower. Place on a baking sheet.
Heat a large heavy-bottom skillet to high heat. Add the oil. When the oil is hot, dip each flower in the batter and add them to the pan. Sauté for 2 to 3 minutes until golden. Flip the flowers and continue to sauté for 1 to 2 minutes until golden.
Repeat until all flowers have been used, reducing the heat to medium-high when the pan is very hot so the oil doesn’t burn.
Serve immediately while hot.

Cranberry Ricotta Pancakes

Meal planning has changed our lives! My dinner time meal stress is almost non-existent because all of the guess work has been taken out of the equation. I now usually know what I’m cooking, I shop for the ingredients once on Sunday evenings, and I factor the appropriate amount of prep time per meal. Our favorite meals usually fall on our Breakfast-for-Dinner nights. For whatever reason, my kids love selecting the breakfast meal that will grace the dinner table. Somehow that same un-welcomed morning food becomes highly anticipated when it’s eaten at the end of a long school day. Usually we’re eating breakfast burritos or scrambled cheese eggs or homemade waffles. I decided to shake things up a bit and make Ricotta Cranberry Maple Pancakes.

I don’t usually try to create more work for myself in the kitchen, especially around the frenetic post school pre-dinner hour but, I happened notice a bunch of ricotta cheese left over from a lasagna bolognese I made the week prior.

Fresh ricotta salvaged for the pancake batter

To avoid throwing the cheese out, I had a the crazy idea that I could try to emulate the ricotta pancakes I always devour at Norma’s Restaurant. Within moments I was assessing my pantry and fridge for the batter ingredients – I only needed to purchase the cranberries.

It have talked about the importance of reading through the list of ingredients in a recipe, and also the recipe itself. That way you know: what’s expected of you, the ingredients required, and the proper amount of time involved. I have learned to always follow that rule of thumb. However, I guess the excitement of finding a recipe for the ricotta cheese made me forget. The recipe calls for six eggs to be separated and then the egg whites are immediately beaten stiff. Luckily I learned what beaten stiff to form peaks meant from my Culinary Institute Baking Skills class. While the egg white were in the mixer, I dumped the egg yolks and watched them ooze down the sink drain. Then, I read that they were needed! So, let’s just say I used up an entire carton of eggs (12) for this pancake project.

After that mix up, I read every letter of every word in the directions. I made sure I folded the stiff egg whites into the flour mixture (again, another distinction I learned in my baking class) and mixed it thoroughly.

Egg whites beaten to peaks

The consistency of the batter was extremely thick, like paste.

Paper mache or pancake batter?

While I was hoping to gracefully pour the batter onto the skillet and watch the pancakes bake to perfectly round completion, that didn’t happen. Instead I plopped the sticky batter and watched it cook into odd, rugged shapes on the stove top. And, the popping sounds from the whole cranberries popping in the heat is totally not relaxing. But, I got through the batter (which seemed never-ending) and am proud to say that I made 14 oddly-shaped Ricotta Cranberry pancakes.

Of course I decided to sample the worst looking pancakes of the bunch. I have to admit, they tasted good. However, knowing my critics, I had a feeling the cranberries would be too tart for them. Next time around I’ll probably use dried cranberries (less tart) or blueberries and also add a bit more sugar to the batter to make it a tad sweeter. I also poured over top some very generous amounts of the pure maple syrup I received from the Mohawk Valley Trading Company.

Hearty breakfast or hearty dinner?

Once the pancakes boasted their syrupy sheen, I knew they’d get two thumbs up from my children. Of course, when polled, they opted for the fattening homemade buttermilk pancakes with chocolate chips but, they did admit these came in a close second.

Since that’s the case, next time around I’ll also use low-fat Ricotta cheese instead of the whole milk Ricotta as they both really seem to taste the same.

And, I’ll probably sneak in the chocolate chips too…

Cranberry Ricotta Pancakes (adapted in part from about.com)

yields 12 pancakes

Ingredients:

2 cups flour (substitute 1/2 whole wheat flour, if desired)
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
2 cups ricotta cheese
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 eggs, separated
1 cup dried or frozen thawed cranberries (more tart)

Instructions:

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.
Beat egg whites until stiff. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, whisk together, ricotta cheese, vanilla extract, and egg yolks until combined.
Add flour mixture and stir just until combined.
Do not over mix. Fold in beaten egg whites along with cranberries.
Cook on a greased, preheated griddle and serve with maple syrup, confectioner’s sugar or jelly.

Notes: I’d add more sugar, make it 1/2 cup. You can use low fat ricotta instead of whole milk. Use dried cranberries for more sweetness and less tartness.