Fried Squash Blossoms Stuffed With Feta and Basil

I was introduced to Fried squash blossom by my next door neighbor several years ago. he never made me any but explained how to do it and gave me some flowers to try. I fell in love with fried blossom since then and my girlfriend and now wife did as well. So its not summer till we had some fried squash flowers. The stuffed idea came from my love with stuffed jalapenos. Hope you enjoy.

Step 1: Sourcing Your Ingredients

Once you decide to make these delectable delights you have to source your ingredients. I had all the above ingredients in my garden minus the feta Cheese.

Squash blossom:

Squash blossoms (sometimes called squash flowers) can be found in some groceries stores during the summer season.

If you can not find in the market look toward your neighbors with squash growing in their garden.

Have no neighbors with squash growing in there garden, look for a community garden.

Basil:

Easy to grow herb, and should be in your local market. If you can't find fresh basil substitute with dried basil.

Feta cheese:

should be easy enough to find. Can also be substituted with cream cheese.

Batter:

- I used ready mixed pancake mix. Just add a little water and your done. I have use tempura batter and regular pancake mix. They all taste good

Step 2: Preparations

Now that you have found all of the ingredients its time to get everything ready for frying.

Stuffing:

- mix in a bowl the Feta cheese and basil

Batter:

-mix in a bowl enough pancake batter that you will need to cover the blossoms

Blossoms:

- Cut open the blossom and cut out the stamen from the inside of flower it is a little bitter.

- stuff blossoms with the feta and basil that was prepared earlier don't fill the flowers to much that you can not easily close them.

- Next dip the flower in to the batter so that the the blossom is completely covered with batter. Take some time to make sure the blossoms are closed use the batter like a glue to help keep the blossoms together.

- Repeat until all the blossoms are battered.

Step 3: Cooking

Have a frying pan or deep fryer ready. I used a frying pan with oil I had left over from bacon and sausage that I cooked earlier.

The oil should be hot enough so that when you place the battered blossoms in they should start to sizzle immediately. As soon as you see the blossom turning golden get ready to take them out.

When I took them out I placed them on a paper towel to drain some of the oil.

Let them cool a little and they are ready to eat.

Step 4: Enjoy!

Enjoy your Fried stuffed squash blossoms. I know my kids enjoyed and can't wait till I make another batch.

Be sure to experiment and share any variations.

If you end up with extra pancake batter and happen to have green onions hanging around. You can use the left over batter and the green onions(scallions) to make scallion pancakes. Hopefully Ill upload the scallion pancakes soon.