Squash Blossoms - Recipes and Serving Suggestions

Instead of searching Epicurian or Bon Appetit for recipes for squash blossoms all you need is our blog.

Here are 4 novell recipes and 10 serving suggestions...

The Zucchini Paradox

A paradox is a statement which apparently contradicts itself and yet might be true.

For example, consider the circumstance in which a father and son are driving down the highway. The car leaves the road and crashes into a tree and the father is killed. The boy is rushed to the nearest hospital where he is prepared for emergency surgery. On entering the surgery suite, the surgeon says, "I can't operate on this boy. He is my son."  Think about this for a minute and we will come back to the resolution at the end of this post.

One paradox we all know in the garden is the fact that summer squash or zucchini is one of the most productive of the garden plants and just a few plants can produce hundreds of pounds of zucchini in just a few days. Yet we plant several rows 300 feet long, roughly 1000 row feet of zucchini (enough to fill my pick-up several times a week) and we sometimes barely have enough to serve our customers. and this week ran out about half way through the farmers market. That is the paradox.

I will explain the paradox by first telling a story.

Squash Blossom Quesadillas

Squash blossoms are used in many different kinds of Mexican dishes. They are a natural for quesadillas. The make a double appearance in this recipe, first by including several raw squash blossoms and second by using some of the squash blossom salsa that is described in an earlier post. Both are very complimentary.

Ingredients:

8 squash blossoms
4 oz grated Mexican cheese blend, pepper jack or cheddar
4 medium tortillas
squash blossom salsa (see earlier post)

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 F. On a cookie sheet make quesadilla one but adding two blossoms, 2 oz cheese and a table spoon of squash blossom salsa to the soft tortilla. Fold over. Create four quessadills total. Put in the oven for 5 minutes or until tortillas is crunchy.

Kick it up:

1. Use Habernaro cheese 
2. Add an additional Jalapeno to the squash blossom salsa.
3. Add some shredded beef or chicken to the quesadilla.
4. Add some fresh sweet corn to the salsa or quessadilla

Squash Blossom Salsa

A wonderful combination of flavors and textures from unusual ingredients. We have a good supply of squash blossoms now at the farmers market.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup diced sweet onion
1 cup finely diced zucchini or patty pan squash
1 Roma tomato
1-inch piece of jalapeno (more to taste)
4 tablespoons cilantro leaves
1 clove garlic
4 squash blossoms
juice of half a lime

Directions:

1. Place onion, 1/2 of the squash, the tomato, Jalapeno, cilantro, lime juice, garlic and squash blossoms in a blender and blend until chunky
2. Pour 1 tablespoon of olive oil into a skillet and add remaining diced squash. Saute over medium heat for 3 minutes. Add the puree from the blender or food processor and cook for 3-5 minutes, until the salsa is thickened and any excess liquid had evaporated. Salt to taste and set aside to cool. Chill in refrigerator.

Serve with chips, quesadillas or tacos.

Kick It Up:

1. Add some corn.
2. Add more Jalapeno
3. Add more tomato
4. Make a bigger batch with more blossoms and proportionally more other ingredients.

Squash Blossom Pesto With Roasted Pine Nuts (Wow)

We are big fans of pesto and squash blossoms. Combining the two into a Squash Blossom Pesto is a home run. We have an excellent supply of blossoms at our Farmers Market Stand right now. This bright yellow Pesto is great with a small or thin pasta like linguine, angel hair or gnocchi. Try it on bread as a bruschetta or on your favorite pizza instead of a tomato based sauce.

Squash Blossom Pesto:

3 tablespoons pine nuts
A pinch of tumeric
2 cups loosely packed squash blossoms (10-12 blooms, a small bag at our stand)
1/3 cup coarsely grated Parmigiano cheese
1/2 cup extra virin olive oil
pinch of salt.

Directions:

1. Toast the pine nuts in a dry skillet until lightly brown. Don't burn.
2.  Remove any stems, stamens or hard leaves under the blossom. Drop into food processor and pulse 2-3 times to break up the blossoms. Add the nuts, the cheese, and tumeric. Pulse until everything is chopped. Turn the machine on, drizzle olive oil in slowly. Scrape down the sides as needed. In your cheese is salty go easy on the cheese.
3. Transfer the pesto to an airtight container and drizzle a very thin layer of olive oil over the top. You can store in the refrigerator for 3-days. Makes 1/2 cup.
4. If you want to freeze some leave out the cheese.

Squash Blossom Soup (Yum!)

Squash blossom are one of the delightful treats of summer. They can be baked, fried, stuffed and sauteed. This recipe is for soup.

Ingredients:

1. 2 Tablespoons butter
2. 1 large white sweet onions, chopped into small pieces (Petersen's)
3. 3 cups chicken stock
4. 1 small Yukon gold potato, peeled and chopped (Petersen's)
5. 24 large squash blossoms (Petersens, large bag)
6. 2 poblano chilies, roast, peeled, deseeded and chopped finely (Petersen's)
7. 1 cup milk
8. 1 medium zucchini, chopped finely (Petersen's)
9. Kernels from a large ear of corn (Petersen's)
10. 1/2 cup heavy cream
11. kosher salt
12. Flat leaf parsley, chopped finely 

Instructions:

1. Warm butter on low heat until melted, increase heat to medium until butter is bubbling. Add chopped onion, stirring to coat. Cook until the onions are golden, stirring occasionally. Reserve half the onions and set aside.
2. Add chicken stock and chopped potato to the pot and bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. When boiling, lower the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes
3. While simmering, prep squash blossoms. Break off stems, peel off sepals (the small leaves that grown from the base and pluck out the stamen. Discard stems, sepals and stamen. No need to be careful the blossoms will eventually be chopped up.
4. Divide the blossoms into two even piles then slice into 1/4 inch strips (include the blossom base). Add one pile of slices to the simmering stock and cook for 3 minutes. Carefully blend the mixture until smooth. I used my immersion blender. If you don't have one, use a blender, working small batches. Return the mixture back to the pot over medium heat.
5. Add the chopped, roasted poblano, milk and reserved onion to the soup, stirring to incorporate. Simmer for 10 minutes and then add zucchini and corn. Simmer for another 3 minutes, then add the other pile of sliced squash blossoms. Continue simmering for 2 minutes, then take the mixture off of the heat. Stir in cream and season to taste with kosher salt (several pinches).
6. Serve in soup bowls and finish with a sprinkle of chopped flat leaf parsley

Serves 6.

Adapted from recipe by Brandon Matzek.

10 Ways to Use Fresh Squash Blossoms

How do you use Squash Blossoms? let me count the ways. There are many creative ways to use this unique and healthy food. We have a great supply at the market.

"[above] is what a summer squash plant looks like that we harvest squash blossoms from."

 Photo: Reed Petersen

1. Stuffed with flavored cheese
2. Batter fried
3. Baked with your favorite sprinkle seasoning
4. Salsa
5. Pesto
6. Soup
7. Quesadillas
8. Pizza
9. Raw on Salads
10. Stuffed with shrimp

Bonus Ideas:

1. Fritters.
2. Hush Puppies
3. On sandwiches
4. Stuffed with Jalapenos
5. Stuffed with your favorite homade sausage