Did you know that zucchini flowers are an excellent ingredient for gourmet dishes?

They can be stuffed, fried 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 issue, you will be lucky not only to believe, but also to make sure that there is such a dish as fried flowers. And this dish is very edible!

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

"It's a pity 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 a flower from each bed. And for those who are especially 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 stuffing in the traditional way on the stove (also for the reason that your model does not deep-fry dishes due to low power).

So if you have your own dacha with a zucchini garden, be sure to stock up on flowers and cook zucchini flowers stuffed with sausages! This delicacy is sure to please everyone!

In addition to sausages in the filling, you can use cheese sticks, 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. no 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 be neither too small nor too large: small ones will be difficult to stuff, and large ones may be sluggish. So it's in your best interest to find medium-sized flowers that haven't wilted in the sun.

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

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

Carefully open the zucchini flower and put a piece of sausage into it. These flowers are quite small, so hiding the whole piece of sausage under the petals will not work. Here I would like to note that sausages are the most convenient filler option for zucchini flowers. You can try to do the same with meat or minced vegetable, but this will require skill. It is much easier to put something solid into the flower, like a piece of sausage or cheese. You can also add greens and pieces of ham, as well as bacon. If you wrap 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 version of the 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 a little into the multicooker pot vegetable oil and turn on the "Fry" mode for 10 minutes. Dip the stuffed zucchini flowers in the batter and place on the bottom of the slow cooker. Salt the dish and fry the flowers on both sides until golden brown. To prepare this treat in the PHILIPS HD 3077/40 multicooker with a power of 980 W, exactly 10 minutes are enough.

Zucchini flowers stuffed with sausages are ready! They can be decorated with herbs (parsley, dill, arugula) and immediately served on the table. Do not hesitate, it turned out quite edible and extraordinarily tasty!

Here are some fried flowers! I repeat, this dish can be cooked in a slow cooker, or you can get by with a regular frying pan.

Thanks to Victoria for the recipe and photo.

Anyuta's Notebook wishes everyone bon appetit.

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

The situation is quite different in countries as far away as Mexico or, closer to us, Italy and France. The flowers of males that are 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 zucchini, comes from the Western Hemisphere.

I first heard that squash flowers 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. Mexicans are generally great at cooking things that others wouldn't think of putting in their mouths. For example, the flat leaves of the nopal cactus are cleaned of needles, cut into diamonds and used in salads along with tomatoes. This most popular dish is sold in Mexico City right on the street. It is so popular that in Mexican supermarkets, canned cactus leaves are a bit watery-tasting, like we have green peas.

Suppose 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 went to farmers' markets abroad. The last time I looked at the elegant yellow flowers last spring in the market of the city of Aix-en-Provence, where they lay next to lilac heads young garlic, scarlet tomatoes and fresh green arugula. As you can see in the photo, a bouquet of flowers cost 4 euros (a kilogram of tomatoes - 4.50).

In our country house, only a few zucchini grow, you can’t feed a family with their flowers. But last weekend we went to a dacha near Moscow to our friends Larisa and Sergey. Larisa's mother cultivates a real plantation of seasonal vegetables and berries. When I saw dozens of flowering zucchini, my heart began to beat faster. After I gave the owners oath assurances that my raid would not affect the harvest, since I would pick only the flowers of males, but I would leave enough of these for re-pollination, I was allowed to collect a basket of treasured flowers.

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

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

And the recipe that I chose was somewhat simplified by me. I ditched the anchovies that 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's hard to put into words this feeling. Probably, this is how a butterfly should feel, which, on a fine summer day, collects nectar from flowers. Flowers in a light fried batter are unusually tender and airy.

What do you need:

• 12 zucchini flowers;
• 150 gr. cheese such as mozzarella or emmental;
• vegetable oil for frying;

For batter:

• 100 gr. flour;
• 1 egg, yolk and protein 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 homogeneous dough, similar to thick sour cream. Set aside for 30 minutes.

Rinse the zucchini flowers gently under running cold water. Discuss lightly.

Cut the cheese into thin strips and stuff the flowers.

Beat the protein in a separate bowl, add to the dough and mix in a circular motion.

Heat vegetable oil in a deep frying pan.

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

Zucchini flowers in batter are called "Roman appetizer"

Ingredients

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

• Servings: 4
• Time for preparing: 20 minutes

it unusual dish originates in Greece, where it is very popular. Even more love for zucchini flowers is enjoyed in Italy - the locals once adopted the recipe from the Greeks and modernized it to suit their tastes.

Inflorescences can be either simply fried in batter, or pre-stuffed. The filling can be anything, but various cheeses with spices are most 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 the a short time to clean them, then dry the product. After that, you need to carefully remove the pistils (male zucchini can be easily identified by a larger flower and a 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 washing and carefully folded into a container. It cannot be frozen.

How to cook batter for inflorescences

And now let's find out how to cook batter for such dishes.

For 20 inflorescences you need to take:

¾ cup of strongly chilled mineral water with gas.

A glass of wheat flour.

½ cup starch (preferably cornstarch).

1.5 tsp baking powder for dough (baking powder).

Salt (to taste).

Vegetable oil.

Mix starch, baking powder and flour. Slowly pour in the mineral water, whisking the mixture thoroughly. The density 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 previously dipped into the mixture.

Recipes for cooking zucchini flowers

Inflorescences in Greek

To prepare this classic dish the following will be required:

Feta - 2 cups.

Dried tomatoes - 1 cup.

Prepared batter.

Vegetable oil for frying.

Sea salt.

Mix cheese and chopped tomatoes. Put a teaspoon of minced meat in each flower, wrap the petals inside to make a closed "capsule". Pour the amount of oil into a deep-fried skillet. Dip the florets in the batter and fry until golden brown. Share on lemon slices. Sprinkle salt on top.

Italian fried zucchini flowers

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. The edges are wrapped inside, dipped in batter, deep-fried. Ready meal sprinkle with salt.

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

Products for 2 servings

Master class from Jamie Oliver Cooking zucchini: zucchini flowers fried in batter

cooking zucchini in this case limited to the use of zucchini flowers. So let's go to the garden together to choose the right flowers and pick them correctly ...

Its subtleties, as in any business ...

To prepare a dish of flowers, you will need flowers that have not yet fully opened - it is possible with small fruits.

*** Be sure to watch the video - and you will find out how and what flowers you need to collect so as not to destroy the entire zucchini bush.

The dish is deep-fried. Flowers can either be bought or harvested from the garden.

For the flower filling...

ricotta season with salt and pepper, add a handful of freshly grated Parmesan, grate the lemon zest…

*** Ricotta

Ricotta (Italian ricotta) - traditional Italian milk product. Often ricotta is called cheese, but formally this is not true: ricotta is not made from milk, but from the whey remaining after the preparation of mozzarella or other cheeses. Thus, the protein base of ricotta is not casein, but albumin.
Ricotta is a traditional product of the southern regions of Italy (Lazio, Sicily, Campania, Apulia, Calabria), as well as some northern ones (Friuli-Venice Giulia, Lombardy, Piedmont).

Ricotta is a popular ingredient in many desserts (for which it is often crushed and whipped into a soft mass): cannoli, ricotta and chocolate cakes, savory pies, pastiera napoletana. Also, ricotta is used in recipes for hot dishes (in particular, some varieties of lasagna), used in baking the traditional Easter bread Pastiera.

Finely chop the mint.
Chile free from seeds and membranes inside. Cut very finely.

Grate nutmeg…

To mix everything.

“It can be used in many ways - you can put small balls on pizza, scrambled eggs or scrambled eggs, you can put it on mushrooms, you can fry it in olive oil ...”

Prepare flowers...

- remove green leaves

- take out the "stamens-pistils",

- to drive away insects ... and other living creatures ...

- push the petals and fill the flower.

*** How to do it easily and quickly Jamie will show in the video ... and you will also see Jamie's meeting with one creature ...

After the flower is filled, you need to gently squeeze the petals.

*** If there is ricotta left, roll into small balls.

*** Jamie will tell you how to cook cheese balls so that they are delicious and crispy.

Batter - Pour wine into pancake flour to make a thick dough for pancakes, add a little salt.

*** Jamie will tell and show how to check the readiness of the batter. Watch the video!

Dip the cheese balls and flowers, shaking the bowl of batter so that all the flowers are covered on all sides with batter.

Heat the oil in a deep fryer or in a deep dish until tender.

*** Jamie will tell you how to check if the oil is ready ...

Gently lower the cheese balls and zucchini flowers into the fat.

Bake until crispy.

"Time to get our kids."

Put on a plate, on which lies several layers of paper napkins. Salt a little.

*** Jamie also fried a squash leaf and a marigold flower (the translator persistently calls them marigolds).

The flowers are crisp...

Put on a plate, squeeze lemon juice… and eat right away!

Jamie cut the flower - he is delighted with what he saw!

"Just a fairy tale!"

In July, vegetable marrows bloom profusely in the gardens. Large orange flowers wither, dry and disappear after a few days. Unfortunately, not everyone knows that this flower has useful and healing properties.

“Fever, or malaria, has long been treated with zucchini flowers,” says Ekaterina Fedorova, an expert in alternative medicine. - True, before picking a flower, they check if there is an ovary of the future fetus in the flower. A tablespoon of flowers was crushed, poured with a glass of boiling water, insisted for 20 minutes. Infusion five or six times a day was given to the patient - and the fever passed.

- These are quite rare diseases, and which more common ones can be treated with squash color?

- An infusion of these flowers is also used to treat allergies: a dozen flowers are poured into 0.5 liters of boiling water and insisted for up to two hours. The infusion is drunk three or four times a day.

And zucchini seeds treat impotence, and fresh juice is advised to drink for women who are on early dates pregnancy. And the juice helps with constipation and swelling. Sticky droplets that appear on the cut of the zucchini heal wounds well, like the resin of coniferous trees. And they can also be first aid for a heart attack. To do this, the sticky substance is dried, and if necessary, put under the tongue instead of validol.

Stuffed zucchini flowers recipe

Original Australian Recipe

Ingredients

Filling

• 2 tablespoons pine nuts
• 1 egg, divided
• 1/2 cup goat cheese
• 1/2 cup ricotta
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
• Sea salt
• Black pepper

Batter

• 2/3 cup plain flour, sifted
• 1 1/4 cups cold mineral water

Flowers

• 12 zucchini flowers trimmed around the base
• Vegetable oil, for deep frying
• Sea salt

Cooking

1. To make the filling, toast the pine nuts in a skillet over medium heat for 5-6 minutes, stirring occasionally until golden brown. Remove from heat and let cool. Connect the egg yolk goat cheese, ricotta, thyme and a pinch of salt and pepper in a bowl. Add chilled pine nuts, stir, then transfer to a jigging bag. Stuff 1 tbsp. mix into each zucchini flower; Do not overfill as the flowers may fall apart.
2. Whisk the flour together egg white and mineral water to do thin dough for the batter (flour types can vary, so start with 1 cup water and add little by little until you have a nice runny consistency). Whisk until combined; Small pieces don't get in the way.
3. To prepare the flowers, heat the oil in a frying pan over medium heat to 190°C. Use a thermometer to measure the temperature; Or the butter is ready when the slice white bread becomes golden in it in 10-15 seconds. Dip the zucchini flowers in the batter, let the excess drip off, then deep fry in batches for 3-4 minutes until golden brown.
4. Remove with a slotted spoon, place on a platter and sprinkle with sea salt. Serve immediately.