L'Italo-Americano

www.italoamericano.org 32 L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2019 LA BUONA TAVOLA RECIPES COOKING TIPS SEASONAL DISHES In this recipe, zucchini flowers are baked rather than deep fried, making for a lighter, more delicate option (Copyright: Dreamstime) Continued form page 30 cacy, zucchini blossoms are quite perishable. (One reason, I suppose, they are so seldom marketed). You should cook them ideally the same day you buy them, or at most the day after. As they wilt, the petals droop and begin to stick together, making them easy to bruise and difficult to stuff. I'd save any blossoms that have lost their freshness for other dishes. (They make a nice pasta sauce, for example, or a topping for pizza). Zucchini blossoms, even when absolutely fresh, do need gentle handling. They are easily bruised if you "manhandle" them and getting at the pistil inside them can be a tricky business. The petals tend to separate as well, although in this dish in par- ticular, that's not the end of the world. If it happens, just gather them around the filling and twist them closed. Variations The filling varies quite a bit from recipe to recipe. As mentio- ned, besides the potato, some recipes call for green beans only, other for zucchini and yet others for both. The ratio of potato to other veg also varies. In some recipes, the filling is mostly potato, in others, you add just one potato to a mostly green bean/zucchini purée as a kind of binder. The measurements given here, with equal parts potato vs. green beans/zucchini, fall somewhere in the middle of the pack. The flavorings also vary a bit. Basil and marjoram— archetypical herbs of the Ligurian Riviera—are almost always part of the mix, but in some recipes get supplemented or replaced by parsley or mint. Technique can vary slightly as well. For instance, one ver- sion has you sauté the garlic clove in olive oil before adding the potato and veg purée to cook off its excess liquid. In others, only the potatoes are steamed and puréed, while the other veg is cut into small cubes and sautéed before being added to the mix, to produce a chunky fil- ling. And in a few recipes, the blossoms are floured and fried rather than baked. Making ahead and leftovers You can make your zucchini blossoms ahead of time, and serve them at room temperature or reheated gently in the oven. You can also make the filling mixture ahead and refrigerate it until you need it. If you have any leftover fil- ling, there's no need to throw it out. You can stuff other vegeta- bles this way. My trusty copy of Le Ricette Regionali Italiane (Solares, ed. 1995) has a recipe for verdure ripiene di patate cal- ling for a mixture just like this one (less the green vegetables but why not use them anyway) as a filling for peppers, zucchini, red onions, eggplant and toma- toes—as well as zucchini blos- soms and, curiously, large basil leaves. The zucchini, onions and eggplant are parboiled before fil- ling, the other veg filled raw, then baked in the oven until ten- der and well-browned. Frank is a lawyer with a true passion for cooking and sharing food with the people he loves. He inherited his love for Italian cui- sine and culinary tradition from his grandmother, nonna Angelina, to whom he dedicated his culinary blog, Memorie di Angelina: www.memoriediange- lina.com

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