Start of Summer
Well, summer is officially here which means beach vacations and delicious summer produce. I just returned from my own vacation to New Smyrna Beach, Florida and am hard at work wrapping up the final touches on the new cookbook. My husband and I arrived home to find our garden full of golden yellow squash blossoms. Every year I think about stuffing these little beauties with creamy goat cheese and frying them golden brown. I never do simply because for every blossom I pick – that is one less squash we will have to eat. Well, this year our garden is overflowing with squash plants, thanks to my husband’s hard work, so I did not hesitate to give the recipe a try.
Stuffing the blossoms is actually easy, and you can do it with almost any cheese such as ricotta, goat cheese, or even gorgonzola. I kept things simple and combined softened goat cheese with fresh basil and baked the blossoms instead of frying. I could eat an entire plate full! They taste almost better than the squash, so now I won’t feel as bad picking them.
I served the squash blossoms alongside a cool bowl of Cucumber Gazpacho and grilled, local shrimp. Yes, local shrimp from the gulf. Every time I turn on the news I am saddened by the oil spill that has devastated much of Louisiana’s coast. As one of my seafood buyers was saying earlier this week, the gulf is huge and only 30 percent of the waters have been affected by the spill. There are still plenty of coastal estuary and good shrimping so all the more reason to support our shrimpers and this dying industry. Don’t shy away from buying local – these hard-working fishermen need more support now than ever. The government is heavily regulating the industry to insure we are all buying the highest quality shrimp. Look at your alternative – shrimp from Asia?
Recipes:
ARCHIVES '12
ARCHIVES '11
ARCHIVES '10
ARCHIVES '09
