summer on a plate !
a recipe for a super summery sungold tomato, corn and squash blossom pasta w/ caramelized onions and crumbled cheese + so many other creative ideas to cook up squash blossoms
One of the few things I miss about living in the north east US, is having a proper summer. I mean, cannot exactly complain, because the weather in mexico city is pretty much perfect and lovely year-round. Sunshine and warmth every single day. Never too hot, never too cold, always green and lush, it’s a dream. There are only really 2 distinct seasons here, dry season and rainy season. Summer is rainy season, which means almost every day for several months, it predictably rains in the late afternoon…. which is it’s own super cozy feeling, but it’s so different from the hot, balmy, beachy summers I am used to.
The upside to the wonderful weather all the time is that you have access to certain produce all year, one of them being squash blossoms. Here in Mexico, you will find them used in so many ways, in so many recipes. They’re a very common quesadilla filling, and you’ll even find them as a soup, and used as garnishes, add-ins and toppers in all types of meals . Back home, squash blossoms were a hyper-seasonal symbol of summer. One of my mother’s favorite things to make and eat were the very traditional Italian ricotta cheese stuffed and then fried version, served with tomato sauce on the side. A favorite of mine too, and because this squash blossom love was instilled in me from a young age, I have always looked for other ways to prepare them, and how other cultures have embraced them.
I have stuffed them with rice and pesto, and fried them with pretty much every kind of cheese you can think of. I have also cooked them sans-cheese and with different types of batters, like tempura. Last year at a pop-up I did, I served them stuffed with jalapeno and cheese, and put them in a taco to kind of mimic a chili relleno. That was maybe one of my favorite versions of all time.
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