Over the weekend, I headed to the farmers market for inspiration before writing this week’s column. I was tinkering with the idea of something with squash or a salad of some sort.
There were bags of arugula, spinach and all kinds of mixed greens, eggplant, onions and herbs. At a few booths, I saw the tomato season begin to show itself, but when I walked through the Romero Farm booth, I stopped in my tracks the second I saw one of my favorite farmers market finds — squash blossoms.
Squash blossoms are the edible flowers that grow out of all squash plants. Male flowers typically grow first to attract pollinators to pave the way for the incoming female blossoms, which will continue to grow into squash. Male blossoms can typically be identified by their long stems and no sign of squash growing at the base of the flower.
While both the male and female blossoms are edible, it’s the male blossoms you typically see at the farmers market, while the females are busy growing into squash back at the farm. Because they are delicate flowers, usually picked the morning of the market, I would recommend using them within a day or two.
The flavor of squash blossoms is delicate and slightly sweet, with gentle hints of squash coming through. They are also stunning to look at in almost any method of preparation. They are beautiful torn into pieces on top of a salad or hummus, or arranged on top of an omelet or focaccia bread before baking. They are incredible on pizza. They are often stuffed and then fried, although this week I wanted to try roasting them because I could not imagine a pot of hot oil on my stove in this heat.
I loved how this way of cooking them resulted in the delicate nature of their texture and flavor shining through.
There are many ways you could approach this dish to make it your own. Instead of goat cheese, you could use a ricotta that’s been drained of excess liquid. You could skip the grilled squash and simply serve the stuffed squash blossoms with the vinaigrette. And if you can’t get your hands on squash blossoms, you could always cut summer squash in half lengthwise, scoop out a canal down the center and stuff and roast the squash itself, spooning the vinaigrette on top.
Grilled summer squash and stuffed squash blossoms
Makes: 4-6 servings; total time: 1 hour
1 large summer squash cut on the bias into ¼-inch slices
1 cup goat cheese, softened to room temperature
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 fire-roasted poblano chiles, peeled, seeded and diced
1 tablespoon fresh lavender flowers, minced
Pinch of salt and pepper, to taste
1 cup fresh corn kernels, (from approximately 2 medium ears)
¼ cup minced shallot or red onion</…….