Fried Squash Blossoms

I love that you can actually SEE the salt crystals on these little guys. They were SO SO SO SO good.

Oh.

My.

God.

Why do I keep playing the “I wonder what else we could fry” game? It’s becoming a problem. These little buggers are so easy and so delicious. Some would say too easy. And too delicious.

And also surprisingly light?!?

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Ingredients

Makes 24 stuffed squash blossoms

• 24 squash blossoms

• 150 g fresh ricotta

• 50 g heavy cream

• 1 g | 1/2 tsp lemon zest

• 3.5 g kosher salt

• 225 g all purpose flour

• 250 g cold sparkling water

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Recipe

Filling

• 150 g fresh ricotta

• 50 g heavy cream

• 1 g | 1/2 tsp lemon zest

• 1 g kosher salt

Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix throughly. Transfer to a freezer strength Ziploc bag, remove as much air from the bag as possible, and reserve in the refrigerator. Use regular strength bags at your own risk. They may spring a leak when you pipe the filling into the blossoms.

Batter

• 225 g all purpose flour

• 2.5 g kosher salt

• 250 g cold sparkling water

Add flour and salt to a large bowl and mix. Add sparkling water and mix. Reserve in the refrigerator.

To complete

Prepare a tray to hold the filled squash blossoms. I use baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

Snip off one of the corners of the bag containing the ricotta filling. Snip off a smaller part of the corner than you think you need, as removing too much will create too large of an opening which will make sliding the tip into the blossom more difficult.

Pipe one tablespoon of the ricotta filling into each squash blossom. Gently squeeze the base of the blossom to open it. Alternatively, and much less hygienically, you can gently blow into each blossom to open it.

Add a few inches of olive oil to a pan and heat to 375˚F. Use a pan deep enough that the oil doesn’t go over 1/3 the height of the pan, but not SO large that you’re using gallons of oil. I use a 1.5qt sauce pan.

Line a baking sheet or plate with paper towels. This will be where the hot blossoms will go when they’re finished frying.

Dredge each squash blossom through the batter and gently drop into the hot oil. Work in batches, being careful to not overcrowd the pan for two reasons: 1, they’ll stick together and, 2, the oil temp will drop too low. While you’re frying, adjust the burner to keep the oil temperature at 375˚F. Fry until golden brown, about 3 minutes. Use a spider or slotted spoon to carefully remove each blossom to the prepared sheet. Immediately sprinkle with kosher salt.

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Note

This is part of a cookbook proposal that’s out on submission right now. If you’d like to see what a book proposal looks like, click here.

Got a little something on your … blossom… 😐

Put a Pin(terest) in It

Fried 🍆

People call me crazy for hating eggplant as much as I do. I can’t blame them, really. With a complete lack of flavor and texture, I’m surprised anyone out there hates it!

I’ve had eggplant cooked dozens of ways, all terrible. In Indian food it taste like mushy tofu. In Ragouts or stews, it tastes like mushy paper towels. Whether it’s grilled, roasted, or pureed, it’s disgusting.

But fried?

Oh man. Now we’re talking.

I ordered a farm box from my grocery delivery service, because that’s step two in “becoming an annoying millennial-hippie”. [Step one? Stop wearing deodorant.]. A “farm box” is fancy term for a box of whatever produce the local farms have just harvested. The produce is generally good—the greens are more flavorful than your typical grocery store greens. The artisan cheese is generally terrible. Last week I had a “Monterey Jack” that tasted like weed smells, if that makes any sense.

This week’s box featured an eggplant. Normally I would have thrown it right out the window. But I wouldn’t wish Death By Eggplant upon my worst enemy, and I was having a hippie dippie moment, so I thought, “let’s see if there’s a way to use this disgusting vegetable that makes it edible.”

Never being one to backdown from a self-imposed challenge, I looked for inspiration—which meant I asked Wiff “any ideas for eggplant recipes that don’t suck?”

She found one from José Andrés that looked simple enough: breaded and fried. I changed it for my tastes and processes, and the final product made me hate eggplant a little less.

And love fried food a lot more.

Seriously, it’s amazing. Go make it.

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Ingredients

• 1 eggplant, 1/4” slices on the bias [fancy term for “at an angle”]

• Kosher salt, as needed

• Whole milk, as needed, about 2 cups

• Extra Virgin Olive Oil (or Canola Oil), as needed, about 4 cups

• Flour, as needed, about 1 cup

• Sea salt, as needed

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Recipe

Arrange the eggplant slices on a baking sheet. Sprinkle liberally with salt. Place another similarly sized baking sheet on top of the salted slices and weigh it down with a pan. Let sit for an hour or two. The longer you let it sit, the more flavorless water you draw out from the eggplant.

Place the eggplant slices in a bowl and cover with milk. Then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or at least a few hours.

Put the flour into a bowl or plate.

Heat an inch of oil to 350˚F in pan with high enough sides so that, in case the oil pops and spits, it won’t make a mess or worse, burn you. I use a Le Creuset Dutch Oven [one of the first items I’d grab if my home were on fire, perhaps from some errant oil that ignited].

Working one eggplant slice a time, remove from the milk—shaking off excess liquid—and dredge in the flour. Flip it over a few times to ensure there are no bare spots. Remove from the flour and carefully place into the hot oil, taking special care not to burn your face off. Cook for about 3 minutes, or until the coating has browned. Use tongs or a spider to remove the eggplant slices from the oil and place on a paper towel-lined plate. Immediately sprinkle sea salt.

Repeat with the remaining slices, adding only a few slices at a time.

NOTE: When you shallow fry like this, take special care to keep the temperature of the oil hot enough. When you add food to hot oil, the temperature of the oil will drop. I suggest heating the oil to 360˚F or so so that it doesn’t drop below 350˚F when you add the eggplant.

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Note

This is part of a cookbook proposal that’s out on submission right now. If you’d like to see what a book proposal looks like, click here.