Leave it to me to milk a season for all it’s worth, but I can’t help it this time around; I just discovered zucchini flowers. I torched them last time (and ate them anyway and regret NOTHING because they were insanely good). This time I did two things: I took a reader’s advice and sauteed them so I could taste them alone, without a filling of any kind, and learned they taste like very delicate zucchini. And I tried the below, another reader’s recipe, as part of my cooking project.
The recipe is second only to a bowl of Frosted Mini-Wheats in its simplicity. Here’s the dish as it cooks…
And here’s Lou:
I picked up the recipe from a chef talking to a patron from the same area, presumably back East at a breakfast hangout where I live. I believe it’s a classic regional possibly ethnic dish from somewhere and there is a story behind the origin as per their discussion. I reconstructed the ingredients from memory back home.
Eggs Daffodil
A very soft scramble of butter with eggs, zucchini blossoms, scallions and Comte (Gruyere) cheese
Louis Rousseau
Santa Cruz, CA
USA
I snooped around a little online to find other recipes with this title, and found quite a bit, including a vomitizing one that calls for 3/4 of a pound of Velveeta. I did not find one as luxurious as this.
For Lou’s recipe, I picked the blossoms at the organic farm and made this dish for lunch when I got home. Since I have to watch my cholesterol (ugh and whimper)*, I used organic egg whites. But I wasn’t going to exclude the Gruyere; I found an applewood variety and shaved a bit into it here and there. The flowers I rinsed gently under cold water, took out the stamens, and then with kitchen scissors snipped them into julienned strips. Snipped the scallions with scissors, too. Browned the bottom of the eggs a smidge, then added the rest of the ingredients and turned it all over just once.
This dish is ELEGANT. It’s champagne and toast points for the VP of marketing, it’s brunch for Kate and Will, it’s a cheering lunch after you’ve driven an hour out and back to the farm. The cheese lends a smoky richness, and the scallions give crunch and fragrance. Zucchini flowers really do look like daffodils here, as bright and sunny as the summer left behind.
Thanks for this, Lou!
*Aren’t you impressed? I’ve never had a problem with cholesterol in my life, but now that I do, I summed it up with a simple ugh and whimper and didn’t mourn as loudly and as extensively as I could have, certainly, like going on about it for miles and miles in a footnote that nobody wants to see and has nothing to do with the recipe at hand and in fact distracts from the point.
Yea! No more burnt offerings. This one looks delcious, and a must try. I’ll have to wait until spring for the zucchini blossoms though, because here they are all gone — big sigh. I wish I could still drive so I could go out and plant a garden at my brothers place at the Mount. Don’t know how much longer he will be there, but if the nuns have anything to say about it, he’ll be there until he dies. And that, hopefully won’t be for a long, long time, even though he is more accident prone than I am.
Maybe your brother could plant some and sport you a few come spring 🙂 They’re easy to grow…
I’m not really one for eating flowers, but you’ve artful prose has convinced me to give it a try, Marisa. It’s a pleasure to follow your cooking adventures.
Hi Verna! Lovely hearing from you, and thank you for your kind words 🙂 They taste like zucchini–honest…
Hello ! Where I come from in the south of France the local recipe is stuffed zucchini flowers. They are amazing.. One word of warning you need nerves of steel , the flowers are very delicate but worth every effort….
Hi Helene! They ARE amazing–it’s true–and the flowers are as delicate as tissue paper. Blogged about a recipe I received from a Roman reader a couple of weeks ago; the flowers were stuffed with fresh mozzarella and anchovy: https://mcproco.wordpress.com/2013/09/22/fried/
What do you stuff them with in France?
hi,Marisa!
I’m sending you greek recipes:
(1) Stuffed zucchini flowers with lemon sauce
ingredients for 4 people
200 grams . Ground Beef
50 grams . Carolina rice
1 small tomato , chopped
1 medium onion , chopped
1 egg
½ cup . dill, chopped
½ cup . parsley, chopped
salt and freshly ground pepper
10.12 zucchini flowers
4-5 zucchini , tender , cut the peaks
¼ cup . olive oil
For the lemon sauce :
juice of 1-2 lemons
1 egg
Execution
Put in a bowl the ground beef , rice , tomato , onion , egg, dill ( After keeping some for serving ) , parsley , salt and pepper and knead .
Remove zucchini flowers, fill them with the mixture of minced meat and close the folding edges . In a wide pan , add the olive oil and place the zucchini floers and zucchini next to each other, very closely . Add water as needed to cover the food , add salt and simmer over low heat for about 20 minutes, until the zucchini to be tender.
For the lemon sauce : In a bowl, beat the egg and slowly add the lemon juice. Pour a little bit of the stock of food , continuing beating. Pour the sauce in the pot, dangling the pot to go everywhere and serve.
Katerina, I love your recipes–thank you! Readers, the addition of lemon to recipes is a particular Greek touch. They have such a way with lemons…
(2) Courgette flowers stuffed with rice and herbs
ingredients
20-25 courgette floers (depending on size)
2 teacups Carolina type rice
2 large onions, finely chopped
1 teacups. parsley leaves , mint and dill
3 medium ,ripe tomatoes, chopped
½ teacup extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
preparation
Wash carefully the zucchini flowers and removed the yellow stamen , inside. In large skillet , heat half the olive oil and sauté onion for 2 ‘. Add the rice and stir 1’ -2 ‘ . Add the tomato , salt and pepper and simmer 3’ -4 ‘ . Remove from heat and allow the food to cool . Add the herbs , stir well and taste for salt. Prepare a shallow pan. Stuff each blossom by 2/ 3, turn slightly its edge and stand it in the pot with the tip downwards. We do the same with all the flowers , touching them side by side . We add water till the floers are half covered , and pour the remaining olive oil. Over them we put a heavy plate to hold them in order not to be opened during cooking . Cover the pot and let the food simmer until it absorbs the water and rice is soften.
Serve the flowers at room temperature or cold and accompanied by yogurt with some lemon and mint.
Another lovely one, Katerina–thanks! When you say teacups, do you mean the US measurement of 1 cup (about 100 grams)? And the herbs should be fresh, not dried, yes?
Everyone, courgettes = zucchini (if you didn’t figure it out…:) )
hi, Marisa
by teacup I mean 1 cup of tea (I measured it and it is 100 grams).
the herbs should be fresh. When I buy more than needed I wash them, chop them and keep them in freeze (I hope I have written it correctly). So, I have them all year round..
Fresh herbs stored in the freezer, in freezer-safe bags (so they don’t get what we call freezer burn). It’s a great idea.