This week marks one of my oldest culinary fantasies- cooked fried zucchini flowers. To some, this will seem crazy delirium, but in reality it should be considered a real madness that in our country, where tons of squash, squash and pumpkins are grown in the beds, their flowers wither aimlessly, instead of decorating our table.

The situation is completely different in such distant countries as Mexico or, closer to us, Italy and France. The flowers of males, unable to bear fruit, do not disappear: they are carefully collected and sold in the markets to the delight of gourmets. There is an extensive list of recipes from them, which the ancient Aztecs began to develop. It is worth recalling that the pumpkin, and therefore the squash, is from the Western Hemisphere.

For the first time I heard that the flowers of zucchini are edible in Mexico, it was a quarter of a century ago. In some restaurant we even ordered flor de calabaza, but, except for its incredible tenderness, the dish did not strike the imagination in any way. Mexicans are generally great masters of cooking things that others would never think of taking in their mouths. For example, the flat leaves of the nopal cactus are peeled from needles, cut into diamonds and used in salads along with tomatoes. This most popular food is sold in Mexico City right on the street. It is so popular that in Mexican supermarkets, canned cactus leaves, a little watery-tasting, are sold, like we have green peas.

Let's say that cacti in Moscow do not grow on the streets, but on window sills. But what prevents us from mastering the culture of eating zucchini flowers?

This thought came to me every time I found myself at farmers' markets abroad. Last time I looked at the elegant yellow flowers in the spring of last year in the market in the city of Aix-en-Provence, where they lay next to the lilac heads young garlic, scarlet tomatoes and fresh green arugula. As you can see in the photo, a bunch of flowers cost 4 euros (a kilogram of tomatoes - 4.50).

At our dacha, only a few zucchini grows, you can't feed your family with flowers. But last weekend we went to a dacha near Moscow to visit our friends Larisa and Sergei. Larisa's mother cultivates a real plantation of seasonal vegetables and berries. When I saw dozens of blooming zucchini, my heart began to beat faster. After I gave the owners oath assurances that my foray would not affect the harvest, since I would pick only male flowers, but I would leave enough of these for pollination, I was allowed to collect a basket of cherished flowers.

Now it's up to the little: find suitable recipe... I found it in the famous book Silver Spoon, which has been given to newlyweds in Italy for half a century so that a young wife can take her first steps in cooking in the right direction. This means that the Italians for many decades have considered fried zucchini flowers an elementary dish (which it really is), as well as absolutely necessary for every family, with which I cannot disagree.

By the way, Silver Spoon offers several types of dishes with squash flowers. According to one recipe, flowers are eaten raw, stuffed with cheese and pickled cucumbers. To this, I must admit, I am not ready yet.

And the recipe that I chose was somewhat simplified by me. I gave up the anchovies, which I had to stuff the flowers with, and made a simple cheese filling... I just fried a few flowers in batter to taste their taste.

It is difficult to convey this feeling in words. Probably, this is how a butterfly should feel, which on a fine summer day collects nectar from flowers. Flowers in a light crispy batter are unusually delicate and airy.

What do you need:

• 12 squash flowers;
• 150 g cheese like mozzarella or emmental;
• vegetable oil for frying;

For batter:

• 100 g flour;
• 1 egg, yolk and white separately;
• 5 tbsp white wine;
• 2 tbsp olive oil;
• 150-200 gr. water;
• salt.

For batter, mix flour with salt, yolk, wine and olive oil... Add warm water to make a smooth dough, similar to thick sour cream. Set aside for 30 minutes.

Rinse the zucchini flowers gently under running cold water. Dry slightly.

Cut the cheese into thin strips and stuff the flowers.

Whisk the protein in a separate bowl, add it to the dough and stir in a circular motion.

Heat vegetable oil in a deep skillet.

Did you know that zucchini flowers are a great ingredient for gourmet dishes?

They can be stuffed, sautéed empty, and even used in baking savory pies! The most delicious part of such a flower is the sepal - a green ball at the base of the petals. But the petals themselves give the dish an unobtrusive pleasant taste.

In today's episode, you will be lucky enough not only to believe, but also to be convinced that such a dish as fried flowers exists. And this dish is very edible!

Zucchini, zucchini and pumpkin flowers are ideal for this recipe.

"Sorry for the harvest!" - you say, because every flower is a potential zucchini or pumpkin. But for such an unusual dish, it is worth collecting at least one flower from each garden bed. And for the most sophisticated, rose petals are also suitable, they can be used not only in tea and jam, but also to cook flowers in batter.

We are in step by step photo recipe we will use zucchini flowers for cooking, and we will cook stuffed buds in batter in a slow cooker. Although, nothing can stop you from cooking fried flowers with a filling in the traditional way on the stove (also for the reason that your model does not deep-fat food due to its low power).

So if you have your own summer cottage with a zucchini bed, be sure to stock up on flowers and prepare zucchini flowers stuffed with sausages! This yummy will surely please everyone!

In addition to sausages, you can use cheese cubes, pieces chicken fillet, fish or minced meat.

Ingredients:

• Zucchini flowers - 8 pcs.,
• Sausage with cheese - 1 large or 2 small,
• Egg - 1 pc.,
• Flour - 1 tbsp. l. without a top,
• Salt to taste
• Vegetable oil for frying.

Cooking process:

First you need to stock up. The most important thing in preparing this delicacy is to choose the right zucchini flowers. They should not be too small and not too large: small ones will be inconvenient to stuff, and large ones may be sluggish. So it's in your best interest to find medium sized flowers that have not wilted in the sun.

Pick them off and rinse well in several waters to get rid of the pollen. Then carefully remove the stamen from each flower. It is large and easy to break off. True, delicate petals can break, so you will have to remove the stamens by poking them with just one index finger. There will be nothing complicated in the preparation of this dish!

Cut the sausage into 8 equal pieces. If you chose smaller sausages, then divide each into 4 parts. You can take ordinary sausages, or you can take these, with cheese inside. This will make the dish more juicy!

Carefully open the zucchini flower and put a piece of sausage in it. These flowers are rather small, so you won't be able to hide the whole piece of sausage under the petals. Here I would like to note that sausages are the most convenient filler for zucchini flowers. You can try to do the same with meat or minced vegetables, but it will take skill. It is much easier to put something hard in the flower, like a piece of sausage or cheese. You can also add herbs and pieces of ham, as well as bacon. If you are wrapping the filling in rose petals, then you need to chop off the petal on both sides with skewers.

Then we prepare the simplest batter: break an egg into a bowl and mix it with flour. Another option for batter: beat the egg, milk or kefir and flour with a whisk / mixer, add salt, pepper to taste and a glass of vodka.

Then we heat the vegetable oil in a deep fryer, frying pan or slow cooker.

How to cook zucchini flowers in a slow cooker

Pour some vegetable oil into the multicooker pot and turn on the "Fry" mode for 10 minutes. Dip the stuffed zucchini flowers in the batter and place on the bottom of the multicooker. Season with salt and fry the flowers on both sides until golden crisp. To prepare this treat in a PHILIPS HD 3077/40 multicooker with a power of 980 W, exactly 10 minutes is enough.

Zucchini flowers stuffed with sausages are ready! They can be garnished with herbs (parsley, dill, arugula) and served immediately. Do not hesitate, it turned out to be quite edible and extremely tasty!

These are the fried flowers! I repeat, this dish can be cooked in a slow cooker, or you can do with an ordinary frying pan.

Thanks to Victoria for the recipe and photo.

Anyuta's notebook wishes everyone bon appetit.

Dishes from the zucchini themselves are familiar and loved by us. It turns out that you can also eat the inflorescences of this vegetable. Are you surprised? Try to cook this tasty dish like flowers of zucchini in batter - and make sure of the veracity of this fact.

Zucchini flowers in batter are called "Roman appetizer"

Ingredients

Squash flowers 20 piece (s) Mineral water 150 milliliters Corn starch 0 stack Baking powder 1 tsp Wheat flour 1 stack.

• Servings: 4
• Cooking time: 20 minutes

it unusual dish originates in Greece, where it is very popular. Zucchini flowers are even more loved in Italy - the locals once adopted the recipe for cooking from the Greeks and modernized it to suit their tastes.

Inflorescences can be simply fried in batter, or pre-stuffed with them. The filling can be any, but various cheeses with spices are preferable. It is undesirable to stuff flowers minced meat- their own taste is very easily interrupted. Although there are such recipes, so be guided by your own preferences.

Before cooking, the inflorescences should be soaked in cold water on a short time to clean them, then dry the product. After that, you need to carefully remove the pistils (the male sex in zucchini is easy to determine by the larger flower and long stem - they are preferable for filling with minced meat) or stamens.

Flowers can be stored for a couple of weeks. To do this, they are thoroughly dried after rinsing and carefully folded into a container. Do not freeze.

How to make batter for inflorescences

Now let's find out how to properly prepare batter for such dishes.

For 20 inflorescences you need to take:

¾ cups chilled mineral water with gas.

A glass of wheat flour.

1/2 cup starch (better than corn starch).

1.5 tsp baking powder for dough (baking powder).

Salt (to taste).

Vegetable oil.

Combine the starch, baking powder, and flour. Slowly pour in the mineral water, whisking the mixture thoroughly. The thickness of the dough should be the same as for pancakes. The batter is ready. It remains only to heat the oil well in a frying pan and fry the zucchini flowers, which were dipped into the mixture before.

Zucchini flowers recipes

Inflorescences in Greek

To prepare this classic dish you will need the following:

Feta - 2 glasses.

Sun-dried tomatoes - 1 glass.

Cooked batter.

Vegetable oil for frying.

Sea salt.

Combine cheese and chopped tomatoes. Put a teaspoon of minced meat in each flower, wrap the petals inside to make a closed "capsule". Pour the same amount of oil into a high-sided skillet. Dip the inflorescences in the dough and fry until golden brown. Spread on lemon wedges... Sprinkle with salt on top.

Fried zucchini flowers in Italian

You will need the following ingredients:

Mozzarella.

1. Ready batter.

   Vegetable oil.

   Sea salt.

A piece of mozzarella and a small anchovy are placed in each flower. Wrapped inside the edge, dipped in batter, deep-fried. Ready dish sprinkle with salt.

Now you know how to cook such an unusual dish. It has delicate taste especially when combined with melted cheese. Be sure to try it to see how delicious it tastes.

For this recipe, flowers are equally suitable not only for zucchini, but also for squash or. Before cooking, they must be carefully rinsed under running water.

Then, just as carefully remove the pistil and stamens.

For the filling, three cheese on a medium grater. Some similar recipes suggest using processed cheese, but it seems to me that more hard varieties... You can take Russian or Dutch, or even, for example, mozzarella, whatever you like the most, the taste of the original dish will depend on it. Gently stuff each bud with cheese and crush the filling with our hands a little, compacting it.

For batter, beat the egg with a pinch of salt.

Add flour and leftover grated cheese.

We mix. If the batter seems very thick, then it can be diluted with a little milk.

We lower each bud in batter so that it completely covers the flower.

Then put in a hot frying pan with vegetable oil and fry the stuffed flowers over medium heat on both sides until golden brown.

We serve fried zucchini flowers always hot, it's very tasty!

If you suddenly have batter, do not throw it away. Fry slices of zucchini or eggplant in it, I assure you that it will turn out to be quite a worthy snack too! If you love cheese, and simply are not afraid of experimenting in the kitchen, be sure to prepare squash flowers! Bon Appetit!!!