Print

Squash Blossoms Stuffed with Smoked Goat Cheese

Fresh from the garden and quick to the plate. This is an easy, ad-hoc appetizer for any night of the week, or even every night of the summer while your garden is feeling generous. Since you might have only 4 blossoms to work with or you might have as many as 12 or 16, I will give a rule of thumb on the ingredient quantity, but feel free to scale up or down as needed. Left-over batter and stuffing can be stored, covered in the refrigerator for several days.

  • Author: Stacey Bender

Ingredients

Scale

Freshly picked squash blossoms

Smoked goat cheese (soft); assume approximately 1 oz., per 4-6 blossoms (depending on size of blossom)

Grated parmesan cheese (just a sprinkle, or up to a few TBSP if making 12-24)

Egg yolk (1 yolk for 6 oz. goat cheese, or just a portion of the yolk if doing a small quantity)

Freshly ground pepper to taste

Sprinkle of smoked paprika (more if using non-smoked goat cheese)

Cooked beets (particularly yellow), skin removed and sliced thin

Arugula, lemon juice, salt and pepper

Green Sauce (enough to dollop each plate)

FOR THE BATTER

Flour (1/2 cup or so)

Salt and pepper

Sprinkle of parmesan

Enough soda water to resemble pancake batter

FOR SAUCE

3 Gigante beans (in vinaigrette) from the olive bar (I said it was ad-hoc but you could use a little tahini or another handful of white beans from a can)

1/8 cup fresh basil leaves

3 green Castelvetrano olives

1 TB lemon juice

3 TB olive oil

3 TB water

Sea salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Check each blossom for bugs and gently part the outer pedals to create a cup for the filling.
  2. In a small bowl, mix the goat cheese, parmesan, egg yolk, pepper and paprika.
  3. Gently fill each blossom, leaving the tips empty enough to twist closed.
  4. Twist the tips closed and set aside.
  5. Meanwhile, make the batter by mixing all the ingredients together.
  6. Add enough olive oil to cover the bottom of a sauté pan and heat until hot but not smoking.
  7. Dip each blossom into the batter while holding the tips and drop them one-by-one into the heated oil.
  8. Let the one side crisp to a golden brown (1-2 minutes) then, using tongs, flip them over to heat through (30-60 seconds more).
  9. Put sliced beets onto a plate.
  10. Toss arugula with sea salt, pepper, and lemon juice and put a mound over each plate of beets.
  11. Top with the cooked blossoms and spoon a bit of the green sauce around the plate.

GREEN SAUCE

Simply put all ingredients into a blender/Vitamix or food processor until smooth.

BATTER

Mix all ingredients together.

%d bloggers like this: