Zucchini blossoms (a.k.a. zucchini flowers) are things of beauty – small, fragile, and in Toronto only available for a brief window of time around July/August. While I’ve enjoyed them in many restaurants over the years, I’ve never attempted to buy and prepare them at home. But our recent trip to Italy – where the growing season is longer, the blossoms are sold in markets everywhere you turn, and they’re as prevalent on most restaurant menus as pasta – allowed us to go zucchini blossom crazy. So when we had the chance to buy a bunch last week, we didn’t hesitate to do so.
The most common preparation for zucchini blossoms is to cover in a light batter and fry them. This is also my favorite way to eat them. But for my first foray into cooking zucchini blossoms, I decided I didn’t want to get into the mess and extra calories associated with frying them. Instead, inspired by Jenny’s sister’s recent success with preparing baked kale chips, I decided a quick trip to the oven was in store for these babies.
After preheating the oven to 400 C, I tossed my cleaned zucchini blossoms in a bit of olive oil and a sprinkle of salt. Then I laid them out on a non-stick baking sheet and popped them in the oven for 15 minutes or so. They came out lightly crisped and lightly salted (though I did end up adding another grind of salt to the finished product). Easy and delicious.
While I’ll probably attempt to make battered and fried zucchini blossoms before the season is over – perhaps stuffed with mozzarella and anchovy, as we had them in Rome – it’s nice to know that I can bake them in a pinch and they still taste great.
They let you in through Customs with that stuff?
No, we bought them in Toronto. I know it’s possible to get a lot of things through Customs (uhh… I mean I’ve heard it’s possible). But I think if I’d been caught bringing zucchini flowers across the border, I would have been the lucky recipient of a “Welcome Back to Canada” cavity search.
Fantastic! Wish I could try one!!
Where did you buy your blossoms…I live in TO but haven’t seen them around yet. I’ll drive anywhere in the downtown / west end area to get them! Help! Thanks 🙂 !!
I love this idea, everything I have looked at is fried or stuffed which I wanted to get away from. I live in Central Mexico (Canadian) and bought 2 bunches yesterday. Going to preheat my oven now. Thank you.