Girls Gone Wild in Val Chisone or just wild about Filled Baked Zucchini Flowers

Ok, so it's a misleading title. None of us are really girls and nobody really went wild.

Although when you get a group of women together it can be a little wild at times. We had friends of friends who visited recently and they were from my old stomping grounds of southern Illinois when I was a girl and perhaps went a little wild, back in the day. Although I didn't know any of them before they arrived, I felt we had known each other a very long time, as I do with many and most of our guests.  They all live or once lived in the small town of Olney (Home of the White Squirrels) a rival to even smaller Lawrenceville, where I lived for the all important "Wonder Years". They were recommended by a childhood neighbor that I  reconnected with on Facebook and so wish she had gotten to come along with them, but that will have to be another trip.

Women of Olney, Illinois

We had so much fun sharing what our part of Italy has to offer and catching up on people and places out of my somewhat distant past as we knew mutual people and they were also related to some of my classmates. We enjoyed a lot of laughs. When it was our time to share, we took them on our Pinerolo market tour and came home and cooked up a storm together.

Hard at work filling the pasta

The intriguing dish of the day, as it is for many people that happen to be here when zucchini flowers are in full force, were the flowers. The most popular way Italians usually will prepare them is filled with cheese or meat, dipped in batter and fried. Yes indeed, they are delicious, but I have been preparing them in a few ways to get around the heaviness of the deep fat frying. We really like them  and have found they eaten with great enthusiasm. We have been filling the flowers mainly with local cheese or sausage and vegetable mixtures. Really and savory mixture of your favorite fillings will work great. We made some the other night with a savory rice mixture that worked out great, so I thought I would share that recipe with you. Use this basic recipe as a starting point to create your own favorite filled zucchini flowers that just might become your signature dish during what can seem like, the never ending zucchini season.

Rice filled Zucchini  Squash Blossoms

Fiori di zucchine ripiene con riso

½ c cooked rice ( 1c/100g dry arborio rice and had extra for later use)

2 sprigs of lemon sage

olive oil, small amount, 1-2 T

1 shallot, diced

1 slice of pancetta or bacon, diced or cut into small pieces

1 small zucchini diced small

2 sprigs of fesh thyme, or ½-1 t dry

1-2 T  white wine

4 walnut halves, toasted and chopped (I pan toast them)

a few sprigs of spearmint if desired, chopped

salt and pepper

4-6 slices of prosciutto crudo

8-12 large zucchini squash blossoms, washed with pistil and stamens removed

(figure 2 flowers per person, depending on their size, maybe more)

Cook the 100g/1c rice in 2c lightly salted water with  2 sprigs of lemon sage.

You could use vegetable or chicken stock for part of the water for a flavor boost.

In a small heated saute pan, add a small amount of oil, the shallots and pancetta.

As they begin to soften  add the diced zucchini and fresh or dried thyme.

Saute a few minutes more.

Add the white wine and cook until the zucchini is soft and the white wine evaporated. I like to leave my zuchine somewhat al dente.

In a mixing bowl combine the 1/2c cooked rice, sauted vegetables, and chopped walnuts. Season with salt and pepper. A couple of tablespoons of choped frsh spearmint is a nice touch  if you like it. I don ‘t care for pepermint as I feel it overpowers.

With a spoon fill your flowers with a goodly amount trying to divide your filling evenly amounts your flowers so that they all have filling.

Once filled, take a lengthwise half slice of prosciutto crudo and wrap around the flowers bulk. Lay on a sheet tray with baking paper for an easy cleanup and no stick properties. Lightly drizzle all the filled flowers with olive oil and pop into a preheated moderate oven(180*C/350*F) for about 15 minutes, so the filling is warmed through and the flower is wilted.

Serve immediately.

Pairs nicely with a crisp white or dry rose wine.

Coooks Notes : Add a small amount of grated parmesan for a touch of salt and pizzaz if desired, although it is very good without.

Cheese variation, I have used so many varieties using up bits of  various cheese, trying to make a mixture of mild and stronger flavors cut through with some  cooked spinach, or wild greens like stinging nettle, borage, fresh herbs, chives, thyme, basil and small bits of prosciutto crudo, sausage, ham, bacon, pancetta and usually some grana padano or parmigiano to tie it all together. Whatever strikes your fancy.

I sometimes rewarm them on the stove in a pan, which works just fine, without having to turn on the oven for just a rewarm.

This is an appetizer, so you don’t need to overly fill the flowers. It could however be a part of a light luncheon course with a salad, so then you might increase, maybe even double your filling amounts for heartier servings.

Spicy cheese filled Zucchini flowers

 

One of Italians favorite ingredients that they love to use here that often surprises our guests, are zucchini flowers. They can be quite bountiful at times when there are many on the vine that will never tun into a zucchini such as these in the photo above and then there are ll of the ones attached to the end of the zucchini when you either pick them from you own  prolific plants or purchase them fresh from your market vendor. Either way, they are delicately flavored, lovely to behold and delicious stuffed and deep fat fried, but then, is just abut everything. That is the typical way they are done and served in most of Italy, but they do find their way into soups, risottos, ravioli and pasta dishes as well.

I did a slightly lighter version of them the other night that had my friends making me believe that they had died and gone to heaven. They savored every morsel. They are so easy to prepare this way, that you might just want to wander out to your garden and see if you have a few to fill with your favorite filling and bake in the oven till warmed though and you have an easy delectable starter that will have you running back out to the garden to find if your zucchini plant has given up a few more flowers while you were busy making and baking the first ones. If not just be patient and I'm sure you'll have a few more shortly. You'll just have to be patient and think about what else you can fill them with. I used a mixture of small bits and tail ends of a variety of cheeses along with some spicy Calabrian salami. You could use some flavorful beans for grains as well. Just make sure to either wrap the flowers in something that will keep them from drying out while they are baking, or lightly brush a bit of oil in them before popping them into the oven.

Fiori di zucchini ripieno 
4 servings

8 large zucchini flowers or more if they are smaller
3-4 slices of Proscuitto crudo, sliced lengthwise to make 2-3 generous strips per slice

200-250 g assorted cheeses, I used fresh
Ricotta,
Seirass, (which is a stronger flavored and firmer ricotta type cheese
Parmesan (Grana Oadan actually)and
Cevrin, which is a strong goat cheese.
The idea is to have a flavorful filling, but not necessarily a stringy type cheese filling, but anything will work really.
50- 100g spicy salami diced
1 egg optional if your mixture holds together well on it's own, like mine did
few grates of fresh nutmeg
2 Tb chives


Mix everything together in a bowl and set aside.
Wash your flowers lightly in a bowl of water to remove dust etc
Working gently remove the large pistil inside. If your flowers are small you might open one sideto ease the filling process.
Fill the flowers generously keeping the slit together as best you can and leave enough room at them end that you can fold the points of the flower over the ends to keep the filling in.
Wrap the ham around the flower in a spiral tucking in your ends if you canso it all holds togther.
Bake in a moderate to hot oven till warmed through and juicy.
Serve immediately.
They are quite rich and usually 2 will make a substantial starter.