Ricotta stuffed Zucchini Flowers with Tomato Sauce

written by cookeatlove on September 16, 2010 in Sides and Vegetables with 6 comments

You will need about 12 zucchini flowers for this amount of filling but you can adjust the filling depending on how many you are making.  My flowers are not store bought so they are definitely not uniform is size or shape.  I picked a bunch from my neighbors when I was walking the kids home from school.

You will also need a very nice tomato sauce to pour over top of the zucchini flowers when done.  I recommend Sicilian Meaty Tomato sauce that I posted awhile back.  You can even make the sauce a day in advance..the flavors will be even better.

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For the filling

• 1-1/2 cups of Ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup Grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 tsp Ground pepper
• 1 tsp Seasoning salt
• 3 tbs Minced fresh basil or 1 tsp -dried basil
• 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
• 1 clove of minced garlic

Mix Ricotta with Parmesan, basil, garlic, and lemon zest.  Season to taste.   Fill a zip lock bag with cheese mixture.  Cut a tip off the bag large enough to  squeeze out the cheese mixture.  Being very careful not  to tear the flower, gently squeeze the cheese mixture into each zucchini flower.  Put these in the refrigerate and let them cool.

For the batter:

• Vegetable oil, for frying
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1 cup cold  water
• 1 cup all-purpose flour

Salt and pepper

Directions

Pour about 3 inches of oil in a deep pan and heat to 375 degrees F  Or, my friend Cindy heats it until she sees bubbles around a chop stick that she immerses in hot oil.

Beat the egg yolks and pour in the cold water; mix to combine. Add the flour and mix until the batter is like a thick  pancake batter. Dip 2 or 3 zucchini flowers ( depending on the size) at a time in the batter to coat completely,.  Fry the flowers in the hot oil for 2-3 minutes until crisp and a nice golden brown. Drain the fried flowers on a plate or cookie sheet with paper towels, season with salt and pepper while they are still hot. Keep on doing this until they are all done.

Once you are done place them 2 or 3 on a place and gently pour some really nice tomato sauce on top. Sprinkle with some finely grated Parmesan cheese.

Batter adapted from Food Network Canada

tags: best zucchini flowers fried zucchini flowers ricotta stuffed zucchini flowers stuffed zucchinei flowers

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