This is one of my favorite dishes: stuffed zucchini flowers.
My mother used to make these maybe once a year, or once every two years. They are a true delicacy.
It requires that you get up early in the morning and pick the flowers from your zucchini plants while they’re open. If you don’t grow zucchini, you can usually find them at farmers markets. Avoid Italian specialty shops as they’ll charge you a king’s ransom for them.
What you do is pick the flowers, early in the morning, and stuff them right away. If you have to wait to stuff them, place them face down between two paper towels. This will prevent the flowers from closing. Then follow these instructions:
Stuffed Zucchini Flowers
August 1, 2014
Ingredients
- Zucchini flowers
- Egg wash (beat an egg with a splash of milk)
- Breadcrumbs
- Olive oil
- For the filling: This is the same stuffing my mother used for stuffed peppers.
- Hamburger, 1 pound
- Sweet Italian sausages, 2
- A piece of bread ( a stale piece or an end piece to a loaf of American bread is fine. )
- Splash of milk
- Frozen chopped spinach, 1 package (defrosted and cooked.)
- Grated Parmesan cheese, 3/4 cup
- Large eggs, 2
- olive oil to coat frying pan
- Garlic clove, 1
- Salt and pepper (to taste)
Directions
- Step 1 Make the stuffing by first putting a bread slice in bottom of bowl and soak it good with a splash of milk.
- Step 2 Fry hamburg and sausage in oil and garlic. Break up hamburger and sausage into little pebble-size pieces while cooking. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Step 3 Add cooked hamburg and sausage mixture to bowl with bread and milk.
- Step 4 Add spinach, cheese, and eggs. And mix well with either clean hands or a fork and knife.
- Step 5 To make the stuffed flowers: Use a demitasse spoon to carefully stuff each flower. Be very careful as the petals tear easily.
- Step 6 Dip the flowers in a beaten egg wash and then in bread crumbs.
- Step 7 Fry in a little olive oil until brown on both sides. Then let the oil drain off them on a paper towel.
