Tara Riddle: Sage and lemon ricotta stuffed squash blossoms (recipe)

How many of you have been doing your Saturday stroll through the Carson City Farmer’s Market and came across those little bags of yellow flowers that are squash blossoms?

How many of you often wondered what in the world those are for? How do I cook these? Are they any good? They are amazing. These little delicacies are pulled off of the zucchini plant. You can sauté them, or stuff them and fry them. This recipe is perfect for the summertime.

The ricotta stuffing is light and bright and goes perfect with some marinara sauce as a dip. I am going to be using 10 squash blossoms for the filling measurements.

You will need to get out a small mixing bowl for the filling, another bowl for your beer batter, a spatula, and a Ziplock bag that seals.

Ingredients for the filling:

¾ cup ricotta cheese

3 tablespoons grated parmesan

1 egg yolk

2-3 tablespoons fresh sage

1 lemon (zest only)

½ teaspoon salt

⅓ teaspoon pepper

Ingredients for batter:

2 cups flour

1 12-ounce beer

Directions

The order of the steps is important for this recipe. You DO NOT want to let your stuffed squash blossoms sit for any length of time covered in beer batter.

This will make them soggy. We will have all of our steps completed and the oil hot and ready in the skillet before we start dipping our blossoms in batter.

Start first with the squash blossom filling. Mix up your ricotta cheese, parmesan, egg yolk, sage, lemon zest, salt and pepper in a mixing bowl. Scrape this mixture into a Ziplock bag or pastry bag. We will cut off one small bit off of the corner of our Ziplock bag and start stuffing.

Gently spread apart the flowers and squeeze the ricotta stuffing in. Set aside on a plate. Next, we will set up a little assembly line by the stovetop. We want to make our station the most efficient way of getting our blossoms to the pan timely, and with little mess.

We want to get some canola oil or coconut oil in a skillet. Turn it on medium. While the oil is getting hot enough, we will quickly mix our beer better. Use a whisk and mix up the beer and flour. Take your stuffed squash blossoms and start dipping in the batter.

I found that a dip and twist of your squash blossom is the most efficient. Gently twirl your squash blossoms in the beer batter and carefully place into the hot skillet. Let it get golden on one side before you flip it.

Have another pan ready with paper towels in it. Place the cooked squash blossoms on the paper towel. Warm up some of your favorite marinara and serve for a wonderful appetizer or afternoon snack.

Tara Riddle is a real estate agent and property manager at Charles Kitchen Realty. She also works at the Farmer’s Market in Carson City or Black Rock Bison.