The New York Times' Most Popular Recipe + Fried Zucchini Blossoms | Our Best Home Cooking Bites of the Week
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What is the Food Friends podcast and who are the hosts?
Welcome to Food Friends, a podcast inspiring home cooks to try new dishes in the kitchen by sharing trusted recipes, tips, and friendship.
Hi, I'm Sonia. And I'm Carrie. We met in Los Angeles over 15 years ago as personal chefs and haven't stopped talking about food since. We're so glad you're here. Hi Carrie. Sonia, what was your best bite this week?
Carrie, my best bite was stuffed zucchini blossoms. Oh my gosh.
That's so extra and how wonderful.
I know it's a little extra, but can I tell you it took less than 30 minutes and it was really the basis of our whole dinner that night. So what happened was I went to the farmer's market. I ran into a chef friend and he had this beautiful bouquet of zucchini blossoms. And I had been tempted by them for a few weeks. There's a newer farmer, and I've just never seen more beautiful zucchini blossoms than this farmer. And they may even be squash blossoms because they're huge. And They're like merigold, orangey, yellow. They're just so gorgeous. So he was carrying them around and I was like, What are you gonna do with them? And he was like, I'm gonna make stuffed squash blossoms for my wife tonight. And I thought, oh, that, you know what, that actually sounds so good.
Maybe I'll make them for Jonathan. And sometimes these can be a little pricey, but this farmer is really selling them inexpensively. It was a big, huge bundle for $5. As I was walking around the market with them, so many people asked me about them. One person was like, What do you do with those? Like they had never tried them before.
Why did Sonia choose stuffed zucchini blossoms as her best bite of the week?
And then other people were like, Oh, where'd you get them? And I just love those moments in the market where you're talking to strangers about some summer.
Sonia, that to me is one of the best parts of going to the farmer's market is when you notice something that someone has or someone notices what you have and you know you start to exchange recipes and menu ideas and all these things. And I think just for anyone who's never had a a squash blossom or zucchini blossom, we're really talking about the flower of the plant.
So one thing that's interesting if you are growing zucchini or squash in your own garden, because that's another way to do it. You don't have to get these at the farmer's market, is there's male squash blossoms and female versions. The female ones produce the fruit, produce the zucchini or the squash. The male ones are kind of like on a long, thin stem. And that makes it really easy to stuff them too. There's almost like a built-in handle as opposed to the fruit. Although Sometimes some farmers sell the the actual zucchini with the squash blossoms still attached and that's extra special. And again, this is something you could do in your own garden. But also when I was walking around the market, there was this one farmer who noticed these blossoms and she revealed that what she does with them is actually stuff them with a bunch of vegetables in addition to cheese.
So The the traditional way is some kind of like ricotta mixture with herbs and grated parmesan, a little bit of egg, and you stuff that and I'll describe how you do all that, and then you lightly fry it, shallow fry it, or deep fry it with a batter. She was doing that sh traditional method, but she also said I chopped up bell peppers and onions and corn and I made a little saute and then I combine that with ricotta and herbs. And put that in the stop squash blossom. So I'm thinking about that for later in the summer, but we don't have corn yet or peppers. So I started with more the Italian traditional way, which is you get ricotta, you want to get whole milk ricotta, you want to get a good one that's not too loose and not too watery.
And then I added fresh basil, fresh parsley, salt pepper, an egg, and some grated parm, like a a lot of grated parm. And it makes a kind of filling. And then a lot of people tell you you have to get a piping bag or a ziploc bag out. And then you're gonna have to pipe it into the squash blossom. I never really do that. I don't have the patience.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What is the Food Friends podcast and who are the hosts?
0:01–1:31
2
Why did Sonia choose stuffed zucchini blossoms as her best bite of the week?
1:31–4:44
3
How can you pick, prep, and stuff zucchini blossoms for a quick dinner?
4:44–8:03
4
What is the simple tempura‑style batter and shallow‑fry method for crispy blossoms?
8:03–11:06
5
How did the neighbor react to the fried zucchini blossoms and why is it a perfect summer snack?
11:06–13:48
Speakers
2 identifiedMore from Food Friends: Home Cooking Made Easy
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