Ricotta Stuffed Squash Flowers, Tempura Fried

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There’s a particular kind of magic in the way summer hands you something delicate and asks you to be gentle with it. Squash flowers are exactly that. They arrive soft and golden, the color of late afternoon light, and they carry the promise of a garden still busy with sun.

The idea here is simple, though it feels like a small ceremony. You take the flowers, still faintly warm from the day, and fill them with ricotta. The cheese settles in like it belongs there, cool and creamy against those bright petals. Then comes the tempura, that whisper-thin batter that fries up into something between a crackle and a sigh.

When they come out of the oil, they’re impossibly light. You bite in and the shell shatters, and underneath is the ricotta, soft and quiet, and the flower itself, tasting faintly of the vine it grew on. It’s the kind of thing you eat standing over the stove, not waiting for anyone.

Summer cooking is like this. It doesn’t ask for much. A little patience, a hot pan, and a willingness to let good ingredients be what they already are. These stuffed squash flowers are a reminder that the best dishes are often the ones that hold the season in their hands and don’t try too hard to change it.

Make them once and you’ll understand. Sunshine, a garden, a warm afternoon, all folded into a few golden bites.

focus keywords: squash flowers,tempura fried,ricotta stuffed
tags: squash,flower,tempura

How we make them

Here’s the actual method.

First, the batter. We dropped the usual flour-and-cornstarch mix and went with rice flour only, no egg, kept ice cold. It’s just rice flour and enough cold club soda (or beer, if you want that flavor) to make a slurry that’s thick but still loose enough to coat. Dust the flowers in dry rice flour first, dip them in the slurry, and straight into the hot oil. That’s the whole batter station. The dusting gives the slurry something to grab, and the rice flour is what fries into that thin, glassy shell instead of a heavy crust.

Second, the filling. Ours is ricotta with fresh mint and basil, and a spoon of honey to sweeten it. We used a raw goldenrod honey from Bright Raven Farm & Apiary, just up the road in the Finger Lakes, sold at their Honeybee Embassy. Goldenrod honey crystallizes fast, so it comes thick and a little pasty, and that’s exactly what you want here. It sweetens the ricotta without turning it into soup. Use whatever good local honey you can find, and if yours is loose and runny, use a little less so the filling stays dry enough to hold.

Everything else is fast. The flowers come from the garden, the frying takes about a minute a batch, and you’re eating them warm before the plate ever makes it to the table.

Ricotta Stuffed Squash Flowers, Tempura Fried

Squash flowers stuffed with ricotta, mint, and basil, sweetened with local goldenrod honey, and fried in a light rice-flour tempura slurry.

Prep: 15 min  |  Cook: 15 min  |  Total: 30 min  |  Serves: 6

Ingredients

Filling

• 10 to 12 squash flowers
• 1/2 cup ricotta
• 1 tablespoon fresh mint, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon fresh basil, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon thick raw goldenrod honey (we used Bright Raven Farm’s)
• Salt and pepper to taste

Tempura batter

• 1 cup rice flour, plus a little extra for dusting
• About 3/4 cup ice-cold club soda or beer, enough for a thick but pourable slurry
• Pinch of salt
• tip: keep the batter sitting on top of icy water to keep it cool

For frying

• 2 cups neutral oil (vegetable or peanut)
• OR in a deep frying pan where the oil is 1.5 to 2 inches deep so the flowers can float without touching the bottom.

Instructions

1. Prep the flowers. Brush off any dirt. If you rinsed them, dry them well. Trim the stem to about half an inch and pinch out the stamen inside if it’s large.
2. Make the filling. Stir together the ricotta, mint, basil, honey, and a little salt and pepper. Keep it thick. The honey should sweeten it without loosening it, so if yours is runny, use less.
3. Stuff gently. Spoon or pipe about a teaspoon of filling into each flower. Don’t overfill or they’ll split in the oil. Twist the petal tips to close.
4. Heat the oil to 350°F.
5. Make the slurry last. Right before frying, stir the rice flour, a pinch of salt, and enough ice-cold club soda (or beer) together until it’s thick but still pourable, loose enough to coat. Keep it cold and don’t overwork it.
6. Dust and dip. Lightly dust each stuffed flower in dry rice flour, then dip it in the slurry to coat.
7. Fry a few at a time for about a minute, until pale gold and crisp. They cook fast, so don’t walk away.
8. Drain and serve. Drain on paper towels, season with a pinch of salt, and eat warm.