How is the weather in your country? Here is great very very very hot (too much these days) and I’m still in the city, one month from now I’ll be on holiday at my parents’ cottage can’t wait!! I’m very busy not at work but because I’m trying to move as soon as possible to south of Italy and so I’ve many things to do like job and house hunting that takes me more that 80% of my free time , I miss so much my daily blogs I really wish to fix things soon so I can come back soon to my “classic” life!! It’s a while that I don’t share my fav recipes with you , just 2 days ago I’ve tried another easy summer and yummy recipe from some friends , it’s a pizza with zucchini blossoms that are one of my fav veggie ever sweet and tasty!! Isn’t yellow such a beautiful color?? Love it and love to cook with yellow ingridients too, bright happy sunny , perfect for summer dishes.
Ok here’s the recipe , you need to make your fav focaccia or pizza base I make pizza or sometimes I buy ready “pizza bases” and then add my fav ingridients, here’s an easy “focaccia bread” recipe:
Ok here’s the recipe , you need to make your fav focaccia or pizza base I make pizza or sometimes I buy ready “pizza bases” and then add my fav ingridients, here’s an easy “focaccia bread” recipe:
BASIC FOCACCIA
2 packages active dry yeast
1 3/4 cups warm water
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus 1/4 cup
5 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for kneading
2 teaspoons fine (table) salt
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse sea salt for topping
In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in the warm water. Sprinkle with sugar. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of the olive oil, the flour and the fine salt and stir with a wooden spoon until a rough ball forms. Using a plastic pastry scraper or wooden spoon, scrape the dough out onto a floured work surface. Knead the dough until smooth and elastic, 5 to 7 minutes.
Add up to 1/2 cup flour to the work surface while kneading to prevent the dough from sticking.
Form dough into a ball, transfer it to a lightly oiled bowl, and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rise in a warm, draft-free spot until it doubles in bulk, 1 to 1- 1/2 hours. For a more flavorful bread, make dough up to this point, punch it down, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight. Let the dough come to room temperature before shaping.
Pour the remaining 1/4 cup olive oil evenly into a half-sheet (11-by-17-inch) pan. Without punching it down, turn the dough out into the pan. Using your hands, press the dough evenly into the pan. If it is too elastic to spread without springing back, let it rest for 5 minutes. Cover the pan loosely with a dry kitchen towel. Let the dough rise in a warm, draft-free spot until it doubles in size, about 1 hour.
Position a rack in the lower third of the oven, and preheat to 450 degrees.
Dimple the dough by pressing your fingertips all the way into it at 1-inch intervals over the entire surface. Sprinkle it with the coarse salt.
Now it’s time to add your fav ingridients. I added fresh zucchini blossoms amd mozzarella, discard the pistils and rinse, then slice some mozzarella or other cheese that you prefer and place slices or dices on the focaccia base, pour some extra virgin olive oil and then add the blossoms, I don’t cut them but you can if you prefer, puor if you prefer some more extra virgin olice oil and if you like a little bit of black pepper.
Bake the focaccia until golden brown, 20 to 30 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool in the pan. Cut it into squares and serve warm or at room temperature.
You can add to ricotta cheese instead of mozzarella and the focaccia will be more delicate and soft, my mum’s recipe is with ricotta and anchovies and of course zucchini blossoms. Here0s mine but the pic is very bad taken with my mobile http://twitpic.com/b8cwd
Another quick recipe with zucchini blossoms is to make spaghetti:
2 packages active dry yeast
1 3/4 cups warm water
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, plus 1/4 cup
5 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for kneading
2 teaspoons fine (table) salt
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse sea salt for topping
In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in the warm water. Sprinkle with sugar. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Add 1/2 cup of the olive oil, the flour and the fine salt and stir with a wooden spoon until a rough ball forms. Using a plastic pastry scraper or wooden spoon, scrape the dough out onto a floured work surface. Knead the dough until smooth and elastic, 5 to 7 minutes.
Add up to 1/2 cup flour to the work surface while kneading to prevent the dough from sticking.
Form dough into a ball, transfer it to a lightly oiled bowl, and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rise in a warm, draft-free spot until it doubles in bulk, 1 to 1- 1/2 hours. For a more flavorful bread, make dough up to this point, punch it down, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight. Let the dough come to room temperature before shaping.
Pour the remaining 1/4 cup olive oil evenly into a half-sheet (11-by-17-inch) pan. Without punching it down, turn the dough out into the pan. Using your hands, press the dough evenly into the pan. If it is too elastic to spread without springing back, let it rest for 5 minutes. Cover the pan loosely with a dry kitchen towel. Let the dough rise in a warm, draft-free spot until it doubles in size, about 1 hour.
Position a rack in the lower third of the oven, and preheat to 450 degrees.
Dimple the dough by pressing your fingertips all the way into it at 1-inch intervals over the entire surface. Sprinkle it with the coarse salt.
Now it’s time to add your fav ingridients. I added fresh zucchini blossoms amd mozzarella, discard the pistils and rinse, then slice some mozzarella or other cheese that you prefer and place slices or dices on the focaccia base, pour some extra virgin olive oil and then add the blossoms, I don’t cut them but you can if you prefer, puor if you prefer some more extra virgin olice oil and if you like a little bit of black pepper.
Bake the focaccia until golden brown, 20 to 30 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool in the pan. Cut it into squares and serve warm or at room temperature.
You can add to ricotta cheese instead of mozzarella and the focaccia will be more delicate and soft, my mum’s recipe is with ricotta and anchovies and of course zucchini blossoms. Here0s mine but the pic is very bad taken with my mobile http://twitpic.com/b8cwd
Another quick recipe with zucchini blossoms is to make spaghetti:
Ingridients for 4 servings
350gr spaghetti pasta
20-30 zucchini blossoms (remove always the pistils)
2-3 zucchini (crougettes)
white onion
parmiggiano cheese (parmesan)
salt pepper
1 cup of white wine
extra virgin olive oil
In a frypan add the oil and the chopped onion let it cook until it golden then add the sliced zucchini and the wine and let it cook for 8-10 minutes or until the zucchini are gold and well cooked. Boil water for the pasta and cook it but drain it “al dente” then add the pasta in the pan with zucchini add other oil and add the blossom and stir it for 5 minutes add some pepper the parmiggiano and serve it.
There’s another recipe that is the same but you can add shrimps too..not for vegetarian of course!!
350gr spaghetti pasta
20-30 zucchini blossoms (remove always the pistils)
2-3 zucchini (crougettes)
white onion
parmiggiano cheese (parmesan)
salt pepper
1 cup of white wine
extra virgin olive oil
In a frypan add the oil and the chopped onion let it cook until it golden then add the sliced zucchini and the wine and let it cook for 8-10 minutes or until the zucchini are gold and well cooked. Boil water for the pasta and cook it but drain it “al dente” then add the pasta in the pan with zucchini add other oil and add the blossom and stir it for 5 minutes add some pepper the parmiggiano and serve it.
There’s another recipe that is the same but you can add shrimps too..not for vegetarian of course!!
There are so many good recipes with zucchini blossoms, we used to stuff and fry them , lots of variations, do you have any other recipes to share using zucchini blossoms?!
(Pics from flickr)
