Frittata with flowers

Picking a few things from the garden, and the flowers are perfect for a frittata.

Mix eggs, salt, pepper, grated parmesan, fresh basil leaves and a little self raising flour and pour in a skillet greased with olive oil, arrange the cleaned flowers on top (zucchini flowers, impatiens, cornflowers), cover with a lid and cook on low until the base is golden, then tip and cook on the other side. Flip on a plate and enjoy!

Photos and recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Baby zucchini, zucchini flower and basil leaf beer tempura

This was so yum!!!! My zucchini plants now make only little zucchini, they must be tired. But baby zucchini are so delicious and special, and the flowers too, that I decided to make something scrumptious, like tempura. And also to add some big basil leaves: I love leaves in tempura, but I never tried Italian basil, it was amazing!!

For the batter I used a tempura flour mix and, instead of water, a chilled Peroni Leggera beer. Using cold beer produce a crispy tempura, plus you can drink beer while you are cooking :-).

Don't overtax the batter, make sure the oil is really hot, and cook the baby zucchini first, then the flowers and the basil leaves. sprinkle with salt and serve, with more beer!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Fried zucchini flowers stuffed with ricotta and basil

I have quite a few zucchini in the garden but not so many flowers yet, and I love fried zucchini flowers (you can find the step by step recipe here). So I decided to pick a few little zucchini with the flowers still attached and to stuff them. Clean the vegetables and flower, remove the stigma and the styles. Do not detach from the young zucchini. Mix a few tablespoons of ricotta with a pinch of salt, pepper, roughly broken basil leaves and a drop of olive oil. Stuff the flowers and twist the top to seal. Make a batter with egg, flour, a pinch of salt and thin with a little cold beer of water. Dip the zucchini and flowers in the batter to coat and then pan fry with olive oil, turning them so that they cook on all sides. They should be golden and crispy. Drain on kitchen paper, sprinkle with salt and serve. Use the remaining batter to coat zucchini slices, or sage leaves (look here!) or anything you like.

 Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

The Bake Club, Auckland

On Sunday I went to my first 'social' of the Bake Club. Frances was the host, Nicola and Ginny were there with their baking (the Bake Club is going through a Gluten Free stage now, it seems) and, possibly something unusual for a blogging club, the partners were there too.

Usually I see food bloggers meetings made up by ladies, often with kids, so having the blokes there made it seem quite different. It is also the only blogging club I know of in Auckland... in New Zealand actually. And I got my badge!!!!

I took a lot of photos with my little camera, but I cannot find the cable to download them! I can only post the photos I took at home...

We had to bring some baking, fortunately for me the day before I had the neighbours

for afternoon tea (we never see them because there are too many trees around), and I had some food ready.

The marzipan and calissons....

And then as a quick fix i just dipped some cake squares in melted chocolate and topped them with a raspberry.

To bake something savoury, and gluten free, I picked my very first zucchini from the garden.

Cooked them with olive oil, garlic and salt.

I cleaned and flatten the zucchini flowers,

And placed everything nicely in a baking pan lined with baking paper.

I whipped 6 eggs with a pinch of salt, pepper and a drop of olive oil until really foamy (thanks to my new kitchen aid!!!)

Poured it on top of the zucchini,

Baked at 160°C for ... 25 minutes? About that ... I got distracted. Anyway, it smelled ready so I took it out.

Flip it over and ecco pronta a gluten free baked frittata! Thank you for the great afternoon Frances :-)

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Artichoke Risotto with Baby Yellow Zucchini and Flower

Photo by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Ingredients

2 artichokes

Lemon juice

2 garlic cloves, peeled

1 cup Italian parsley

Salt to taste

Extra Virgin Olive oil

1 shallot

500 g arborio rice

500 ml vegetable stock

5 yellow baby zucchini (as small as a finger) with flower still attached

Calendula petals to decorate

Serve 6

Cook the artichokes one day earlier. In a bowl filled with water and lemon juice wash the artichokes and cut out a few of the hardest leaves (petals). Finely chop the garlic cloves with the parsley and a little salt and then use to stuff the artichokes. Place in a small saucepan, drizzle with olive oil and cover halfway through with water. Simmer until the outer leaves easily detach from the heart, adding water from time to time if necessary. The water will make a lovely broth.

The day after scrape all the flesh from the hardest outer leaves and place in a small saucepan with the artichoke hearts and their water (discard the hard bits). Mush flesh and hearts with a wooden spoon, and gently reheat. Keep warm and set aside.

Finely chop the shallot and sauté with 2 tbsp of olive oil. Add the rice and when this is lightly 'toasted', add the artichokes and their water. Stir and then continue cooking, adding some hot vegetable stock little by little, and stirring often. If the risotto is too dry you may need to add a little more stock or boiling water.

Clean the yellow zucchini, do no detach the flowers, just remove the sepals. When the risotto is almost cooked add the zucchini, gently stir in to cover them completely with the risotto, turn the element off, cover the pot with a lid and let it stand for 5 minutes. The zucchini are very small and should cook with the heat of the risotto.

To assemble, divide the risotto between 6 plates, with one baby zucchini for each plate, sprinkle with calendula flowers, and enjoy.

Fried Zucchini Flowers

Fiori di zucchine fritti


The flowers come from aunt Alice's veggie garden in Teven, Veneto.

They need to be picked in the morning, as soon as they open, and cooked on the same day.









Clean the flowers: never wash with water, just remove the sepals, and then open each flower and remove the style and stigma (and any insect that may be living inside!). I like to leave the stems, so that the flowers can be lifted in and out of the frying pan easily.

Make a batter with one free range egg, 1 tbsp of flour and a little beer. You can add a pinch of salt, but it is not necessary. I prefer to sprinkle salt on the flowers once they are fried.

Dip the flowers in the batter (holding them by the stem) and then fry in plenty of vegetable oil until golden. Sprinkle with salt and eat immediately.