Cheese Stuffed Fried Squash Blossoms

Zucchini season is still going full tilt. If your garden is anything like mine, you will get to a point (if you haven't yet) where you are super overwhelmed with zucchini and you just want the madness to stop.

Me? I have harvested 139 zucchini so far. 139. That's 102 POUNDS of zucchini. I'm there.

Frying squash blossoms is a great way to help the madness come down to a more manageable level. In addition to these being very tasty, they are a great way to help mitigate the glut of zucchini because every flower you pick is one less full size zucchini you need to find a new recipe for or a friend to adopt.

Ingredients
Open Zucchini or squash flowers with about 1 inch of stem or a mini squashlet attached
Do not use flowers that are already closed up or about to drop off the end of a squash. You want fresh, open blossoms
(the stuffing and batter will make about 15 flowers worth)

Stuffing Mix
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp basil
dash of thyme

Batter
1/2 cup flour (I used whole wheat but all purpose is fine)
1 Tbsp grated parmesean
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper
pinch of garlic powder
pinch of paprika
dash of ground red pepper
1/2 bottle of beer

Other
Coconut Oil for frying (though you could use a mix of half vegetable and half olive if you'd prefer)
Marinara sauce for garnish



Directions

1)  Prepare the flowers
When you cut the flowers, try to choose flowers with baby squashlets still attached. If you don't have enough with squashlets on them, just leave about 1 inch of stem on the end. Hold the flower open in your hand and gently inspect for bugs and rinse them out. Set aside to dry.

2) Stuff the flowers
Place all the ingredients for the stuffing in a bowl and mix together with a fork. Hold an open flower in your hand and gently spoon filling into the center. When the main "bowl" of the flower is a almost full, twist the petals together at the top to close. Do not overstuff the flowers. Set aside on a plate and repeat with the rest of the flowers.

3) Prepare the batter
Whisk together all of the dry ingredients for the batter. Slowly whisk in the beer until a consistency similar to runny pancake batter is achieved.

4) Fry the flowers
Heat oil in your pan over medium/medium high heat. Make sure there is enough oil in the bottom of the pan to create a pool about 1/8 to 1/4 inch deep. Once the oil is hot, dip the stuffed flowers in the batter, turning as needed to coat. Place in the pan and fry 2-3 minutes until brown on the underside. Flip and cook another 2-3 minutes. Set fried blossoms aside on a plate lined with paper towels to cool.

You may need to do several batches depending on the size of your pan and how many flowers you are making.  Makes sure you don't overcrowd the skillet or the flowers will stick together.

(I probably could have fit two more blossoms in the pan but these were my last two. Feel free to fry more than two at a time)

5) Serve
Serve fried blossoms and squashlets with marinara sauce for dipping. Enjoy!

If frying squash blossoms is a new idea for you or you'd like to watch a video, WHDH TV in Boston did a video segment on this "strange" new way to eat squash that you can watch online.