You can absolutely stuff your Blossom

OK FIRST we were laughing while I was making dinner last night because stuffed blossom sounded a lot like a euphemism- It’s hard in the lube biz to miss those- but then Corrie and I thought, innuendo or not- everyone should have this recipe!
Seasonal treats can be so magical and this one is especially so- in Colorado anyhow, Squash blossoms, loads of tomatoes and tall bushy mint are all ready to harvest at the same time and flowing out of gardens. (I’m a terrible gardener but I’ve got friends;) That time is now, so here’s a special recipe if you are experiencing a similar bounty:

You’ll want a couple of squash blossoms for each person dining. Here is a recipe for 4.

For the flowers:
8 Blossoms
1 lb container ricotta (I like whole milk but do what you like)
3 eggs
1 cup parmesan cheese, grated
4-5 sprigs mint, stems removed, chopped fine
Save some chopped mint for later
Salt and pepper
½ cup flour
1-2 cups seltzer

For the Sauce:
2 Tbsp butter
4-5 big tomatoes, diced
1 small to medium white or yellow onion
4-5 cloves garlic peeled
Dash sugar
Dash salt
Dash red pepper flakes

Olive oil for frying

For the fresh tomato sauce, melt butter in a large saucepan on medium heat, add onion, cook until translucent, add garlic, cook both until golden. Add tomatoes and stir over med-high heat, adding salt, pepper, sugar and red pepper flakes approximately 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

For the blossom mixture, in a bowl, combine, eggs, ricotta, parmesan, mint, salt and pepper.
In a separate bowl, stir flour, a few dashes salt, and seltzer water until the batter is quite runny and thin.
Slice incisions on each side of the flowers. Remove the stamen at the bottom. Fill each flour with as much cheese mixture as possible, dip into batter and fry in a pan with hot olive oil. Let each side fry approximately 1 minute, until brown, and flip to brown the other side. Fry each stuffed battered blossom on each side.

Serve each pair of flowers on a plate over a healthy pile of fresh sauce, top with mint and more parmesan if you are into more cheese.
Love Lark