oh yum...

tonight for dinner jeremy fried up the zucchini flowers that i bought at the san francisco farmers market over the weekend. they were delicious. i know, i know. pretty much everything is good when fried. but these are a real treat. the flower petals are very light in flavor and almost airy in texture, but the sweet, juicy base of the flower tastes very much like zucchini (no big surprise there). they fry up to be perfectly crisp on the outside, with a bit of give in the middle. nice and salty. eating them felt a bit extravagant, like we were indulging in a special summer treat. the recipe is below. jeremy did add a bit of extra flour to help thicken the batter to the proper consistency, but other that that i wouldn't change a thing.



fried zucchini flowers


vegetable oil, for frying

2 large egg yolks

1 cup ice water

1 cup all-purpose flour

12 zucchini flowers with stems

kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper


pour 3 inches of oil in a deep fryer or large, heavy pot (we used a cast iron pan) and heat to 375 degrees f. in a deep mixing bowl, lightly beat the egg yolks and pour in the ice water; mix to combine. add the flour and continue to mix until the batter is the consistency of heavy cream. dip 2 zucchini flowers at a time in the batter to coat completely, letting the excess drip off. fry the flowers in the hot oil for 2 minutes until crisp and golden brown. drain the fried flowers on a platter lined with paper towels, season with salt and pepper while they are still hot. repeat with the remaining zucchini flowers.

bummer that zucchini flowers are so hard to come by. i mean, you keep picking the flowers and you'll never get any zucchini to enjoy! i was thinking of putting in a few plants next year... maybe we'll buy a few extras to harvest just the blossoms!