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Ever eat a flower?

So my awesome friend Maria came to visit from San Fransisco!


We both went to RIT for undergrad and graduate work, however, once we graduated she headed back to the west coast while I stuck around good old Rochester (much to my mom's chagrin) It was great having her back and we enjoyed MANY meals out and about (Abyssinia, Aladdin's, Dino BBQ, Abbots custard, Phillips European...) Come on we had to visit all our old stomping grounds!! One of the other places Maria wanted to hit up was the public market. While we were there we stumbled upon some zucchini flowers.


Maria spotted them and snatched them up, saying she'd give her mom a ring to get her recipe for deep frying them... although we already knew we were going to make them healthier one way or another :) I had never had them before so I was wicked excited to try up a new recipe!

A quick dip in a whole wheat flour, egg, and milk concoction. Her mom's recipe called for club soda... we didn't have any... so we went with the milk option :) Basically we made a batter similar to a crepe and tossed them in.

Then into a super hot pan with a little drizzle of olive oil.

Our first batch was just the dipped flowers. You could totally taste the zucchini flavor in them... next came a "mozzarella stick" version packed with shredded cheese (AMAZING). Next came cheese with some lightly sauteed garlic and spinach stuffed in... EVEN BETTER!


We also tried a version with cornmeal instead of the flour... the verdict...

NASTY! hahahah oh well, we tried :) It did look pretty!

22 chews:

Anonymous said...

Wow, this is so neat. I have never seen this, but it looked great. Very cool!

Sunshine said...

I've never tried these, but now I might have to (especially if cheese can beadded).

fun with a good friend and good eats yum

Steph said...

I've always wanted to eat a flower!! I just never really thought it could be done. Well.. it can be since we can eat pretty much eat anything, but I never thought it would taste good! This was so interesting. Btw.. I finally bought some apple sauce for TWD so I can make your low fat muffins after I buy some WW flour.

Unknown said...

haha, i went to RIT too! :) but never made it to public market... wasn't doing too much cooking then :) i've heard good things about squash blossoms, too bad they didn't work out!

Natalie said...

I really need to jump on this zucchini flower bandwagon! I have never seen them or tried them, I have no idea what they taste like. The search begins NOW.

Astra Libris said...

Oh my goodness, so gorgeous! I've never tried zucchini flowers but I've heard soooo much about them! I'm so excited to hear about your adventures with them! I love how you made them healthier with the perfect drizzle of olive oil instead of the deep frying - high five! :-)

I just bragged about you and your Kitchen Sink Muffins in my latest blog post... ;-) I hope you don't mind... :-)

Jennifer said...

I didnt even know I could eat them!!! Now I totally will!!!

Sarah Glova said...

how fun!!! sorry about the cornmeal haha-- but at least you tried!! Also, I made your cinnamon roll muffins this week, and they were amazing. Thanks!! :)

I first saw this on tv, Take home chef with Curtis Stone. I love it!

aww thats so fun that your friend came to visit you!
Sorry the hear about the cornmeal though :\

Pam said...

I've always wanted to try these... thanks for the inspiration.

Reeni said...

I love these!! I do this with my pumpkin flowers that don't turn into pumpkins.

I really want to make these. Every summer I say I'm going to and then I don't actually do it. Thanks for posting and sharing your verdicts on the differnet versions!

Anonymous said...

Steph, you have no idea!Imagine your little cornmeal fiasco x10. I was running around my kitchen with dripping cheese cloth, wielding broom sticks, and making all sorts of haphazard contraptions to hang it from. I was left with wads of cheese cloth and the ingenious idea to just line a sieve...too bad the kitchen didn't clean itself.

stephchows said...

I;m so excited to inspire you all! I know I had no idea you could make them to eat!

ttfn300- awesome to another RIT alumni!! And congrats on the tri you completed!

Astra Libris- thanks so much for the muffin shout out!! lol

Reeni- oooo pumpkin flowers?? I'll have to do that too!

Megan- can't wait to see what you do!

theforeignkitchen- LOL man that just made me laugh so hard hehe :D

Anne said...

Ooh I tried these before! They had them at the Farmer's market. I think we just lightly sauteed them and they were yummy :) Love all your experimenting, though!

Anonymous said...

I've heard so much about these zucchini flowers but haven't tried them yet. They look fantastic!

Keithgarrick said...

Great recipe

Hannah said...

Oh, I'm dying to try zucchini blossoms, but I have never been able to find any! They sure are pretty...

ChineseKite said...

Oh, I love these flowers, too. We have some growing in our back yard, just need to tell what are females to keep, and what are males to eat. Any fool-prove tips? Thanks.
BTW, your skin tone tells where you two live.
This ROC summer is...... Doesn't everyone here agree?

stephchows said...

Who knew so many people also hadn't tried these :) Hannah- good luck in your search for them!

ChineseKite- I wish I could tell you which are which, I took the easy route and bought a big bucket for $2 at the public market, I say just head on over there! LOL you trying to call me pale ;) Man I used to get so brown every summer... not anymore!! Darn rochester!

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