Baby Zucchini with Stuffed Blossoms

Tender baby zucchini, left raw, with their attached blossoms stuffed, battered, and quickly fried until crisp. Then drizzled lightly with garlic lemon oil and fresh basil. This was an interesting finger food, as the first question on everyone's mind was: "How are you supposed to eat this?"

Mark picked three very adorable baby yellow zucchinis from the garden yesterday evening, and I just had to make something with them before those lovely blossoms wilted. This is definitely a recipe for all you home-gardeners (or friends of home gardeners), with zucchinis everywhere!

First, I removed the stamens by pinching with my fingers. Then I cleaned them gently with a damp paper towel to remove any soil or little critters that might be lurking in there.

I then carefully stuffed each blossom with a mixture of extra firm silken tofu, Tofutti cream cheese, fresh corn, fresh basil, garlic powder, dried onion flakes, and salt & pepper.

The batter was a very simple tempura made with flour, cold water, a pinch of salt, and pinch of baking powder.

The lemon oil was made with extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, water, lemon zest, garlic powder, agave nectar, salt, and pepper. I didn't do any measuring of ingredients this time, since I was whipping them up like a storm, but these are easy to throw together and adjust to taste.

Here is the approximate quantities:

Filling (this makes more than enough for three blossoms- more like 5-6):
1/4 C. extra firm silken tofu (I used Mori-Nu)
1 T. plain Tofutti cream cheese
3 T. fresh corn, or thawed frozen corn
1/2 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. grated lemon zest
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
salt & pepper to taste


Tempura Batter:
1/2 C. all purpose flour
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. baking powder.
Add 2 T. cold water, then mix and add a little more at a time until you get the consistency of pancake batter.

Lemon Oil:
1 T. extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. water
1/2 tsp. agave nectar
1/2 tsp. lemon zest
salt & pepper to taste

Spinz:
Mash all ingredients for the filling together and spoon carefully into each blossom. Fold the petals around the filling, tucking the tops of the petals down over one another. Secure with toothpicks as needed. With tongs, hold the zucchini securely and dip the stuffed blossoms in the tempura batter, being careful not to batter the zucchinis, then into the fryer. Fry for 30 seconds or so (it's very quick) until golden. Remove to a lined plate to drain. Arrange on a serving dish and whisk together, then lightly drizzle the lemon oil with a spoon. Sprinkle fresh chopped basil, and sprinkle zucchinis with a little extra salt.

So... the consensus on how to eat: Hold the zucchini part and eat the warm crispy rich blossom first, then follow with the tender raw zucchini. SO GOOD! Wish I had more than three. This would be cool to serve as an appetizer at our restaurant, but only if we had a killer zucchini garden!

Oh, and I still need TESTERS, if anyone is interested for testing recipes for our menu.