Zucchini Blossoms

I recently wrote about having fried zucchini blossoms at Becco, one of my favorite restaurants.  Their recipe calls for a heavy coating of flour, eggs and breadcrumbs.  They are stuffed with ricotta cheese and fried.  I tried to bring down the calorie and carb count.  First, my zucchini blossoms have a much lighter coating of flour.  I use egg whites instead of the whole egg and I substituted goat cheese for the ricotta.  A serving of ricotta has 171 calories, 88 of which are from fat.  Goat cheese has 76 calories per serving - 54 of which are from fat.

First, put a dollop of goat cheese inside the bud and give it a gentle twist to close.  Then, dredge the zucchini blossoms through flour, then the egg whites and finally the panko

Heat a generous amount of extra virgin olive oil in your pan along with a pad or two of butter.  They cook very quickly - approximately two minutes per side.  Flip when they turn a golden brown

You can see a bit of the goat cheese oozing out

Golden and delicious- more goat cheese peeking through

Serve with marinara and a few squeezes of lemon juice

Ingredients

1/2 cup flower

1/2 cup panko (or regular bread crumbs but panko is better)

2 egg whites

6 zucchini blossoms

1/4 cup goat cheese

Set up three small bowls.  In the first put the flour, in the second put the egg whites and put the panko in the third.  Meanwhile, start your pan heating with the extra virgin olive oil and the butter.  Open the blossoms and using a small spoon place a dollop of the goat cheese in the center.  Gently twist to close (don't over do it with the goat cheese).  Dredge in the flour, egg white and panko.  When the pan is hot enough, place the zucchini blossoms with the mixture on them into the pan.  Sautee on each side for about two minutes.  Turn when they turn golden brown.  Place in dish, squeeze with lemon juice and top with marinara.  (I'll post my marinara recipe soon!)

This recipe is for one person - add more of the flour, egg white and panko to accommodate additional servings.  Eat immediately - they get cold fast.

The season for zucchini blossoms is very short - so try this recipe soon before they're gone till next summer!