Tempura Zucchini Flowers Stuffed with Scallops, Lemon, & Basil

Zucchini plants turn into monstrous godzilla-like creatures with hairy arms and ever expanding green tubes that quickly take over garden space and, even worse, the vegetable bin in my refrigerator.

I'm pretty sure one little zucchini plant could feed the Northern Hemisphere – if not the world. When I see a zucchini recipe I file it immediately because I know some day when I have a garden again I will undoubtedly get sick of stuffed zucchini, zucchini bread, zucchini stir-fry, and zucchini soup.

The flowers are something I never get sick of and thankfully I have no remorse picking the blossoms because they're so tasty. Delicate and sweet with a tiny hint of bitterness, the flowers make a fantastic match for scallops. Add a little fresh pesto and some lemon zest for that Mediterranean summertime appeal and deep fry in light tempura batter for crispiness.

Tempura Zucchini Flowers Stuffed With Scallops, Lemon, & Basil

Serves 6

Ingredients

4 big sea scallops, chopped

6 -8 big zucchini flowers with stamens removed (just reach in and pinch it out)

Zest of 1/2 lemon

1/2 bunch basil leaves

1/3 cup olive oil

3 Tablespoons parmesan cheese

Tempura batter (adapted from Wolfgang Puck's tempura recipe):

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup rice flour

1/4 cup cornstarch

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups carbonated water (pellegrino, soda water, etc)

vegetable oil for deep frying

Instructions To make tempura batter, sift all dry ingredients together in a bowl. Whisk in carbonated water until batter is smooth. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes up to 1 hour.

Blend basil, parmesan, and olive together in a blender. Season with a little salt and pepper. Reserve. In a small bowl mix chopped scallops with 3 pinches of lemon zest and 1 Tablespoon of pesto. Season with just a little salt and white pepper. Open the zucchini flowers without tearing (if possible, don't worry too much if it rips a little) and stuff with one Tablespoon of scallop mixture. Twist and pinch the flower just above the stuffing to close.Refrigerate until ready to fry.

Heat vegetable oil in a high sided pot or in a deep fryer to 350˚F. You need at least 3 inches of oil to fry these in. Dip the stuffed zucchini flour into the tempura batter and fry two at a time until crispy and light golden. Remove to a plate covered with paper towels and drain. Plate with a little pesto sauce and zucchini flower on top.

Comments

[MichaelG]

I’ve been reading your blog for about six months and I love it – especially the videos. Hope your ribs are better soon. Are you going back to work in Paris? This zucchini blossom / scallop dish sounds great. It’s on the menu for Sunday. Thanks.

[Ms. Glaze]

Hi Michael – The ribs are much better. I can run and jump and breathe freely. I feel like a new woman! I'm in New York right now and I have been checking out the restaurant scene here wondering if maybe it's time to test my skills on home turf. I ate at Les Bernadin last week and it was amazing.

Or better yet, I'm hoping that some one will give me my own show! Why is there no French cooking on the Food Network!?!?! This must change!!!!

[SAS]

GF tempura I picked up from Ming Tsai - Mix 1 cup rice flour with enough *cold* sparking water/club soda to make a pancake-style batter. Add salt, chile powder or other spices for flavored tempura. Done. It's light, crunchy, tastes great and takes no time - perfect for my level of cooking skill!

About that French cooking on the Food Network - when are they casting the Next Food Network Star? Seems like someone always *tries* to make "accessible" French cooking his/her approach, but that person never gets to the end. Maybe it's time? You could call it "Frenching with Ms. Glaze." On second thought...

[maitresse]

I have been dying to make this ever since I had something similar at the relais & chateaux in mougins a couple of years ago. they stuffed the flower with ricotta, though, I seem to recall... I'm so hungry right now.

[Dean in Ohio]

Where I work the Executive Chef loves to do this sort of thing.

[Ms. Glazes]

SAS – Thanks for adding the gluten-free tempura recipe. I should have included one (I have one on another post, sorry).

I like the Frenching with Ms. Glaze. At least it's better than the Naked Chef!

Maitresse – Bonjour mon amie! Hope all is going well with you!?!?

Dean – Any special stuffings that you use at your restaurant for the flowers?!?!

[Adele]

I was just thinking about zucchini blossom tempura the other day. I've never seen them stuffed with scallops before. Sounds exciting.

[Simply]

Well this sounds just delicious! A good scallop recipe, and no shell needed, yay!

[MichaelG]

Don't get me started on TFN. The latest "Next Food Network Star" was embarassing to the max. Not one of them deserved a second look. The awfulization of the network continues apace. I don't know what they're thinking. I think (having enjoyed your videos) that you would make a delightful addition. Somewhere along the line they need to hire some new food professionals.

[MichaelG]

I made your squash blossom/scallop tempura yesterday. Yum. It was a bit fussy to make but it was fun. I picked up a bunch of blossoms at the farmers market yesterday AM for a buck. There were 14 of them in the bunch all fresh and gorgeous. The ones I didn't have enough stuffing for just got dipped and fried plain. Delish. After I deep fried the blossoms the thought occurred to me that a dipping sauce would be needed. I happened to have some left over Vietnamese dipping sauce and tried it. The blossoms were better without the dipping sauce. Very light, tasting of the sea. The pesto, which I had expected to be a very strong influence, turned out to be subdued. It worked perfectly. The flavors are so light and gentle that a dipping sauce overwhelms them. Thanks for a great recipe. No way it'll serve six, though. Two maybe. You didn't mention anything to accompany the dish. I took the squash blossom as a Southwestern thing and made a corn dish. Strip a couple of ears directly into a cold frying pan, chop some red onion, a small tomato and a couple of jalapenos right into the cold pan as well. Mise in one piece. When you're ready to cook it, dribble in some olive oil and go. Add salt and pepper to taste. Takes two minutes. Corn and jalapeno are one of the all time great flavor combinations but they gotta be fresh. Again, thanks. By the way, what do you do with left over tempura batter?

[Ms. Glazes]

Michael – I'm glad you liked it and thanks for the feedback and suggestions!!!! I was thinking of the recipe as a first course for 6 people, so one flower per person, but I didn't communicate that correctly. Sorry. I hope there was no problems filing 6 flowers with 4 sea scallops? I only add about 1 T of stuffing.

With the left over batter, I start just dipping anything in it and deep frying. :-) last time I even tried chocolate bars and oreo cookies. Not bad!

[Pam]

That just looks yummy. I'd love to see you on FN. I love your videos & think it's time for you to give us another one!! Pleeeeez! Have you tried frying lobster tail? I never thought you should ever do anything like that to lobster tail, but with the light batter, it is delicious.

[Busby SEO challenge]

Because of the foodblogs, I was more inspired to try new and different foods, I am learning a lot and also thanks for sharing your ideas because at the same time I am also trying my best to learn how to prepare (decent meals :-) Busby SEO challenge

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[tayomismo]

I was very pleased to find this site.I wanted to thank you for this great read!! I definitely enjoying every little bit of it and I have you bookmarked to check out new stuff you post.

[creative recreation]

I have been looking through your blog, I love your projects they are so cute and the fabric projects are awesome.Thanks for sharing,

[jordan 1]

good...