One of the greatest things about living in Italy is the open fruit and veggie markets. Having access to fresh, seasonal food is wonderful! I LOVE shopping at the markets, and always look forward to my shopping days during the week. I frequent some of the same vendors at the market each week and have developed somewhat of an informal friendship with some of them. Each week I go to the same girl at the fruit and veggie stand and she always gives me something extra or puts a treat in my bag (not to mention a few discounts, which is always a plus). Last week she loaded me up! She gave me several carrots, a stalk of celery, parsley, basil (one of my favorite things), and for the kicker…a container filled with Fiori di Zucca.
Fiori di Zucca are zucchini flowers. My first thought was, “Thanks, but what am I going to do with these?” Since I have never made them before and only tried them in a restaurant once, I took the challenge and made it my small mission to learn how to cook this true Italian dish. I stuffed the flowers with a mixture of ricotta and basil, fried them in olive oil and served them with a tomato and basil relish. They were delicious! The plate of ten were gone in about 60 seconds, so I’m considering this little mission well accomplished. I have included the recipe below.
*Note – I come from my MawMaw’s (my grandmother) school of cooking, meaning I don’t stick to measurements when cooking. When baking, yes, of course. When cooking, “a pinch of this and a dash of that will do it,” as my MawMaw likes to say.
Fiori di Zucca Recipe
- zucchini flowers (I had 10)
- around 200 g of ricotta cheese (about 1/2 pound)
- 1 egg
- 6-7 basil leaves, chopped
- 1 garlic clove, grated over other ingredients in bowl
- salt & pepper to taste (this is where you put a pinch of this and a dash of that 🙂
I mixed the ingredients together in a bowl, then used a table spoon to stuff the flowers. I coated a frying pan with olive oil and added a little extra for frying. I heated the oil, then added the flowers. I cooked them until they were golden brown, which only took a few minutes on each side. I removed the flowers and transferred them to a plate lined with paper towels to help absorb the extra oil while they cooled.
Tomato & Basil Relish
- red tomato, coarsely chopped
- 2-3 Tbs olive oil
- 1 garlic clove, grated
- 4-5 basil leaves, chopped
- a few splashes of balsamic vinegar
I mixed all the ingredients together in a bowl and set in the fridge to chill while I stuffed and fried the zucchini flowers. To serve, I spooned the relish over the flowers once we had them on our eating plates.
This dish was a hit. I’ll definitely buy the flowers the next time I see them at the market. It’s something fun, different and very tasty to spice up a weekday dinner at home.
