Tempura goat cheese and ricotta stuffed pumpkin blossoms by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books |
I thought about "something from nothing" a while back when my friend Jason Parrish invited me to see his pumpkin farm in south Douglas County. Up until a couple years ago, Parrish was in the financial services industry. His wife is a lawyer and they have two young sons. Like many families in these challenging economic times, Parrish is making something from next to nothing – a bag of seeds, some mulch, some water, (actually a lot of water in this very dry August), using his own labor and initiative to build a business.
Jason asked if I’d ever used pumpkin blossoms in cooking. He planted pumpkin seeds beginning in June, planning on a rolling harvest in autumn, and he had excess blossoms. I needed a botany lesson reboot: pumpkins produce two kinds of blossoms, male and female. Only the female develops fruit, so after the male blossoms have done their duty of pollinating the females (with a little help from bees and other bugs), they aren't needed. In other words, pumpkins are like Elizabeth Taylor in her prime, taking the best of what's offered, mating-wise, and leaving the rest just hanging on the vine.
The female pumpkin blossom. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books |
A male pumpkin flower. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books |
After spending a very hot August morning in the pumpkin patch, I turned to Executive Chef Christina Curry of Epicurean Endeavors for advice on using the blossoms, based on her experience with zucchini flowers. She suggested a tempura batter and plans B and C for future blossom projects: dicing the fowers and using them in a fritter, or a quick high temp roast with olive oil, herbs, salt and pepper. "You are only limited by your imagination, so try some different combinations and decide which you like best," she wrote in her reply to my inquiring email.
On her advice, I created a lemony goat cheese filling, cutting the rich chevre with ricotta and flavoring the mixture with basil and chives from my herb garden. I created a tempura batter using rice flour, just the right light texture for the delicate blossoms.
Pumpkin blossoms by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books |
If you’re lucky enough to be able to purchase pumpkin or squash blossoms, plan to cook with them right away. If you’re picking the blossoms, make sure that they have not been treated with any kind of pesticide, and look for the blooms without the female bump behind the blossom. When you open up the male blooms, it’s quite clearly a male, just so you know. Keep them in a closed brown paper bag or zipper lock bag with a slightly damp paper towel. It’s best to pick pumpkin or squash blossoms early in the day, before they close up for their afternoon naps.To clean the blossoms, rinse them off very lightly with water, and check for signs of critters or mildew inside. Pinch and pull out the stamen.
Pumpkin blossoms by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books |
To fill the blossoms, I like to use a baby feeding spoon – another reason never to clean out the silverware drawer – those little guys are so handy. Scoop the filling into the flowers. When all the blossoms are stuffed, heat the oil in a pan, and have a paper towel-lined plate handy. Have the mayo ready and your diners on call. Mix the batter, dip the blossoms and fry. Drain on paper towels and serve.
Pumpkin blossoms waiting to be washed. By Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books |
Tempura Battered, Goat Cheese -Stuffed Pumpkin Blossoms
Filling:
½ cup ricotta (lowfat is fine)
½ cup goat cheese
1 teaspoon lemon zest (about a ½ lemon’s worth)
Pinch salt
A couple turns of freshly cracked black pepper
¼ cup loosely packed basil leaves, thinly sliced (chiffonade)
½ teaspoon chopped chives
Tempura Battered Pumpkin Blossoms
1/3 cup rice flour (look in the Latin foods section of the market)
1/3 cup all purpose flour
Pinch of salt
1 egg yolk
1 cup seltzer
One dozen fresh, organic pumpkin blossoms
Vegetable or canola oil for frying
Lemony mayo
½ cup mayonnaise mixed with juice of ½ lemon
1. Make the mayo first. Either Homemade, or jazz up good-quality storebought with a squeeze of lemon juice. Keep in refrigerator while cooking the pumpkin flowers.
2. Mix up the filling: In a medium bowl, combine ricotta, goat cheese, lemon zest, basil and chives. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
3. Using a baby feeding spoon and a fair amount of patience, place about a tablespoon of filling in each blossom. If the bloom is tightened, use a paring knife to cut a slit along the side. Fold the petals over the filling.
4. Set up a frying station. Fill a Dutch oven with 2 inches of canola oil and set over medium-high heat. In a medium bowl, stir together rice flour, all-purpose flour, salt and egg yolk. Whisk in seltzer. Adjust the batter consistency to your liking by adding either a bit more flour or a bit more seltzer – I like the batter on the thin side.
5. Oil is ready when a test dribble of batter bubbles to the surface. Using the stem as a hand-hold, dip each stuffed blossom in the batter then place gently into the bubbling oil. These cook very quickly – about 3 minutes per side. Drain on paper towels and serve with lemony mayo on the side.
Fried, stuffed pumpkin blossoms. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books |
Many thanks to Jason for sharing the pumpkin flowers and the Atlanta Botanical Gardens and Christina Curry for culinary guidance.
Those look sooooo good, and I have blossoms a plenty right now--Stumbled...
ReplyDeleteThese look DELICIOUS! So creative and beautiful too. Love it.
ReplyDeleteI adore squash blossoms. Something of an obsession. Yours look fabulous, Lucy!
ReplyDeleteGeez Louise -- those look amazing. Fried? Cheese!? I'm so there. I've just never had access to any blossoms to stuff. I feel so deprived!
ReplyDeleteBell :) ..or... :(
What a beautifully written post! Stuffed and fried squash blossoms are one of my favorite summertime dishes and I love the light tempura batter you used on the delicate flowers.
ReplyDeleteAngela: Thanks for reading! Let me know how your flowers fry!
ReplyDeleteBecka: Thanks for visiting! They were beautiful and really easy.
Linda: A compliment from a connoisseur! Thank you! I've only had squash blossoms once before & I think mine were better.
Bell: Kind of a gourmet popper. You've got to try these!
Canuck: Thanks so much for the kind compliment and for visiting!
I have always wanted to try squash blossoms, but never have. They look gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteHow cool! I had no idea there were male and female blossoms. I love the tie-in to Depression era eating. My grandparents often told me that they ate pretty well. It just takes a little ingenuity!
ReplyDeleteThese look amazing! So pretty as well. I'd never heard of these before, but definitely want to give it a try.
ReplyDeleteAt first when I saw this I was really sad. Aren't those supposed to be pumpkins! I am so happy to have learned they have both male and female flowers. BONUS!
ReplyDeleteWe like ours with Rotel and Velveta
ReplyDelete