Coming into Bloom

I remember the first time I ate squash blossoms.

Ryan and I were in a small, outdoor café in Italy enjoying lunch after a long, hot day of being a tourist. It was late May 2008—our first big vacation post-honeymoon—and we ate everything in sight. (FYI: Not much has changed from the way we conduct ourselves now on vacation.)

I recall spotting squash blossoms on the menu and knew we had to order them. After all, they're not in season very long. Plus, when was the next time I would be in Italy? They arrived to the table, about a half-dozen on the plate, fried and stuffed with some sort of anchovy filling. A dish to remember.

Lucky for me (and you, too!), squash blossoms aren't only available in Italy. (In fact, they're heralded in cuisines around the world for their mild zucchini flavor.) I picked them up yesterday at the Union Square Greenmarket and knew immediately how I was going to prepare them. I removed the stamen, stuffed them with a teaspoon or so of Humboldt Fog cheese and a basil leaf, dredged them in egg and seasoned flour, and fried them in vegetable oil.

The crispy coating and oozy cheese were a perfect combo, bringing me back to that café moment in Italy.

I have about half the blossoms remaining, and I plan on putting them on top of a pizza with a bit of fresh marinara and some ricotta. Time to blossom out.

Pesto Presto

I have garlic breath.

Some might consider this a bit of a problem; I'm OK with it. Don't worry—I'm at home on my couch far away from crowds. Yes, I'll brush my teeth later, but right now, I can't get enough of the pesto I made the other day using garlic scapes.

This weekend, I experimented with the short-lived delicacy for the first time. If you're unfamiliar, garlic scapes are the curly tendrils that grow above ground as the bulb is forming underneath. The season is brief, so I suggest getting your hands on them as soon as you can.

To truly capture their flavor, I decided on a quick pesto.

Garlic Scape Pesto

8-10 garlic scapes, roughly chopped

1/2 cup basil, packed

1/3 cup walnuts, toasted

1/2 lemon, juiced

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese

Salt and pepper to taste

1. Place scapes, basil, walnuts and lemon juice in a food processor and blend until well combined. Slowly drizzle in oil and process again until well combined. Transfer mixture to a bowl and stir in cheese. Season with salt and pepper.

I used a good portion of the garlic-y, green goodness for dinner the first night, combining it with freshly cooked fava beans, chopped toasted walnuts and kamut. I topped the dish with a fried egg (there's something amazing about pesto and a runny egg—well, pretty much anything a runny egg). I've been using the leftover pesto to spread on whole-grain crackers.

There's only a handful of scapes remaining in my fridge. The plan is to quickly sauté them and toss them on pizza with some fresh mozzarella and olive oil.

Guess I'll be scraping by on scapes until next weekend—that is, if the farmers' market still has them around.