For a few weeks every summer, you can find beautiful, bright orange zucchini blossoms gracing the farmers’ market stalls. Their conical shape and large size mean they’re perfect for stuffing. We love a combination of milky ricotta, salty, umami-laden anchovies, and Corrado Assenza’s bright lemon canditi. Together, these flavors really sing, just ask our amico ‘Ino Panino. To finish the dish, we take a page from Mariangela Montanari’s book and drizzle those blossoms with Traditional Balsamic vinegar. Talk about an epic appetizer: these fleeting summer beauties deserve VIP treatment in your kitchen.
Ingredients
TIME: 40 minutes
YIELD: 12-14 blossoms
- Zucchini blossoms, 12-14
- Ricotta cheese, 350g / 12oz
- Anchovies in extra virgin olive oil, 10 fillets, chopped
- Candied lemon peel, 1 segment, finely diced (about 1 Tbsp)
- Black pepper, freshly ground, to taste
- Fine sea salt, optional
- Extra virgin olive oil, 2 Tbsp
- Traditional Balsamic Vinegar, to serve
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 350°F / 180°C. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- To prep the blossoms, carefully remove the pollen-coated stamen from inside each one. You can do this with scissors, or pinch them off with your fingers. Soak the blooms in water to remove any insects or debris, then allow to dry on a dish cloth while you make the filling.
- To make the filling, combine the ricotta, chopped anchovies, diced lemon canditi, and a good grinding of black pepper. Taste and adjust for salt if you like, but you may find the filling salty enough from the anchovies and ricotta.
- Transfer the ricotta mixture to a piping bag or a ziplock bag with the corner snipped off. Carefully pipe the mixture into each blossom, closing the petals around the filling with your hands and taking care not to overstuff. Depending on the size of your blossoms, you may not need all the filling.
- Gently brush each stuffed flower with extra virgin olive oil and place on the parchment-lined baking tray. Bake for 25 minutes.
- Allow to cool slightly before transferring to a serving dish and drizzling with Traditional Balsamic vinegar.
