COURSE: Antipasto

DIFFICULTY: Easy

PREPARATION TIME: 30 minutes

Yield: 6 servings

12 zucchini blossoms
1 cup fresh buffalo or cow’s milk ricotta
1 large egg
2 scallions, thinly sliced
1 cup rice flour
1 anchovy fillet, rinsed & minced
¼ teaspoon freshly-grated nutmeg
½ cup extra virgin olive oil
Fine sea salt & freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
¾ cup cold sparkling water

To clean the zucchini blossoms, brush gently with a damp paper towl; they are too fragile to be rinsed under running water. Then, gently tease open the petals and pinch off the fuzzy-looking stamens in the center, and discard. In a medium bowl, combine the ricotta, egg, scallions, minced anchovy, nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Stuff each zucchini blossom with about 1 ½ teaspoons of the filling, and set aside.

Place the rice flour in a bowl. Pour the sparkling water over, and whisk thoroughly until smooth and combined. In a 10- or 12-inch sauté pan, heat the olive oil over high heat until smoking. Dip four of the stuffed zucchini blossoms in the batter, and coat well.

Place the battered blossoms in the pan, and cook until golden brown, turning once with a slotted spatula, about three minutes total. Remove to paper towels to drain, and sprinkle lightly with the salt. Repeat with the remaining blossoms. Serve hot.

Buon appetito!

This recipe was first published courtesy of Eataly Magazine [2].