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.

How to make Zots (AKA Zuchini Tots)

Is your garden being overrun with zucchini? I know mine is! This is my first year in the community garden and for some reason I thought it would be a great idea to have 14 zucchini plants (to my credit I was originally going to have 7 but then someone gave me 7 more. Can't let a good plant go homeless!). But let's talk about my over zealous nature and inability to tell when too much is too much later.

Right now, we have very important things to discuss, like : What in the world to do with all that zucchini? And how to get your kids to eat it (and like it)?

I have one word for you: Zots.
AKA Zucchini Tots.

There is a very popular post floating around on Pinterest right now from Curious Country Cook which I used as my starting point and this is where I landed.

So grab a zucchini and come with me and I will teach you the ways of the zot making ninjas.

Ingredients
1 large or 2 small zucchini (about 2 cups grated)
1/3 white or yellow onion (about 1/2 cup diced)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup grated mozzarella (could sub in cheddar)
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
3 eggs
Salt and Pepper (or other herbs) to taste


Directions
1) Shred your zucchini

Cut your zucchini lengthwise if needed to fit in the chute of your food processor. Or grate by hand. (also preheat your oven to 400 degrees)

2) Squeeze

Lay out a clean kitchen towel on the counter. Place a layer of paper towels on top. Spread the zucchini shreds on the paper towel. Place another layer of paper towel on top. Pat down to initially absorb moisture. If the paper towel soaks through, trade out for another one. Now, start at one end and roll the zucchini up in the kitchen towel. Press down the length of the roll to absorb as much water as possible. Unroll and place the zucchini shreds in a medium size bowl.


3) Mix

Add the rest of the ingredients into the zucchini shreds. Mix it up.


4) Set up

Grease a 24 cup mini muffin tin. Spoon or scoop zucchini mix into the wells and press down to fill the well all the way up.


5) Bake

Bake the zot mix in your 400 degree over for 18-20 minutes until set and brown and very tasty looking.


6) Serve
Serve warm with ketchup or ranch dip and watch your kids and hubby gobble up the zucchini filled goodness.

Battle of the Zucchini Fries

My sister is out of town for a couple weeks and has asked me to take care of her garden while she's away. Since she'll be gone for a while, she's also said that I can have any produce that ripens while she's gone. So far, while gone, her garden has produced two MOSTER sized zucchinis. No joke. These things are practically the size of my one year old:

I put out a cry on Facebook for good zucchini recipe suggestions as my main go-to recipes for zucchini aside from dunking raw pieces into ranch dip are Angel Hair Primavera and Antipasto Pizza....and I've got about 8 times as much zucchini as either of those recipes needs. When my cousin suggested frying it, I was reminded of some zucchini fry recipes I'd seen on pinterest and thought I'd try something like that. When I ran out of bread crumbs half way though making the baked fries, I thought I'd try frying some up as well and Battle of the Zucchini Fries was on!