Squash Blossoms Stuffed with Goat Cheese

Wow, has it really been almost a month since I posted? I know, as Metromix producer Janet Nguyen told me recently, I've been a really bad blogger. Worse yet, I haven't even been cooking much in the past month. June has been a blur for me. It was an extremely busy month at work and I got pretty burned out on cooking after all the work I put into the rib burnoff (which I didn't win but more importantly we raised lots of money). Fortunately, things have calmed down a little at work and I am finding some motivation in the kitchen.

I went to the Crocker Park Farmer's Market this past Saturday for the first time since May and saw some beautiful squash blossoms for sale.

Fresh squash blossoms 

I had never eaten squash blossoms but I heard they were pretty good. They weren't cheap at $5 for 5 blossoms, but we were having some people over for dinner on Sunday so I thought I'd pick some up for everyone to try. I also noticed a new (to me) vendor, The Ornery Goat, selling goat's milk & cheese at the Crocker Farmers Market. They were sampling feta, four different types of chevre (chive & onion, chipotle, garlic dill, and plain), and fresh goats milk. I tasted them all and decided on the chipotle and chive & onion. The goat milk was also very interesting. It was very rich (like whole milk) and had a slight tang to it. It is definitely worth checking out next time you are at the market.

 The assembly line

I decided to stuff the squash blossoms with goat cheese, coat them in flour, and deep fry them. The flowers were a little delicate but I was able to successfully fill each of the blossoms with cheese and twist the petals together to seal them up.

Battered squash blossoms waiting to go in the fryer

Next, I dipped them in egg and then tossed them in flour until they were coated. I put a pot with an inch or two of canola oil over medium heat. To test when the oil was hot enough, I dropped a little flour in and it fried the flour without burning it so in went the squash blossoms. I didn't have enough oil to cover them completely so after a minute or so I flipped each blossom over to cook the other side. After both sides looked nice and crispy, I removed each blossom.

Fried squash blossom stuffed with Ornery Goat Chevre

The squash blossoms turned out pretty good. The goat cheese paired perfectly with the delicate squash taste of the blossom. I especially liked the chipotle chevre as it gave a little heat to the dish. If I had it to do over again, I probably would experiment with a batter rather than just the egg / flour coating. I forgot to season the flour so the crispy exterior was on the bland side. 

If you like to try new foods or are looking for something unique to serve at a party this summer, stuffed, fried squash blossoms are sure to make your be a hit and make for great conversation too.

Have you ever tried squash blossoms? What is your favorite recipe?

Giveaway - Stove Monkey's Yumm 2.0 Tickets @ The Mercury Lounge

The Stove Monkey's are at it again! This Monday, June 7th at 8pm they are hosting the second rendition of Yumm at Mercury Lounge. Did you miss the first Yumm? Check out what you missed via Green Dog Wine's review of it. The second rendition of Yumm promises to be even better than the first as it will feature molecular cocktails courtesy of Mike Gulley, in addition to some amazing Stove Monkey's molecular gastronomy inspired food. I have two pairs of tickets to giveaway once again. Read through to the end find out how to win or better yet, head over to the Stove Monkey's websitehttp://stovemonkeys.com/ and order your tickets today!

The menu will include the following:

FOOD created by The Stove Monkey's

Liquid Nitrogen Poached Ice Cream – Ice Cream that is instantly flash-frozen in Liquid Nitrogen – Think Dip and Dots, who doesn't love dip and dots???

Coconut Bubbles – Bubbles like you blew as a kid that taste like coconut and have a sweet spicy finish (jalapeno) and of course, after tasting them the bubbles disappear in your mouth

Liquid Baked Potato – a  frozen liquid that tastes like Baked Potatoes infused w/ white Truffle Oil and Rosemary, coated in flour and tempura fried and served w/ Scallion Aioli

Inside Out Deviled Egg – A reversed Deviled Egg


Drinks created by The Alchemist, Mike Gulley

Banana’s Foster’s – A very fun drink that tastes like a bananas foster. It starts with a Bruleed Glass while you watch, then it's filled with Liquid Nitrogen Poached Ice Cream, and finished w/ reserved liquid nitrogen ice cream that vaporizes on top of the drink and can be inhaled

Maple Old Bacon Fashion – Tastes like a breakfast – Bacon infused Bourbon, Maple Egg White Foam, Orange Brulee

Mojito of Future – Jello shot version of mojito that has green mint caviars on top and finished with Coconut Bubbles.

Tickets are a steal at $7 pre-sale or $10 at the door. The ticket includes the cover charge and all the food you can eat. Drinks are cheap at $3 a piece! Head over to the Stove Monkey's website and order your tickets today!

GIVEAWAY!!!

The Stove Monkey's have once again given me two pairs of to giveaway to Yumm. To enter, they want to know what the strangest thing you've ever eaten is and why. Here's Matt from Stove Monkey's story:

Once upon a time (lol) I ate a raw fish eye. We were in the kitchen monkeying around and decided to eat the eyeball after butchering it. We drizzled Olive Oil, salt, lemon juice, and sriracha to enhance flavor. After chewing the weird texture we all decided it was a bad idea and tasted gross. If someone bet me 5 dollars to do it again I would not. Gross.

Leave a comment below telling us about the strangest thing you've eaten and you could win 2 tickets to Yumm this Monday at Mercury Lounge. You can have a bonus entry for posting a link to the contest on Twitter and another for posting to Facebook, just be sure to leave another comment with a link to your tweet/facebook message. Good luck and I hope to see you there!

Michael Gulley's Bio

The Alchemist 

In a day and age where the common perception of a bartender is simply one who is doing a second job or side gig to make extra money to get through school, twenty five year old Mixologist Michael Gulley is going the extra length to set himself apart as a true professional with a passion for crafting cocktails and entertaining in conversation. With thirteen years experience in the restaurant industry, Mike has moved up the ranks from a bus boy at a family diner in Brook Park, Ohio to managing the front of house operations for a restaurant in the Upper West Side of Manhattan. Recently returning back to Cleveland from NYC, Mike has brought with him a determination to revamp the cocktail culture here in the Greater Cleveland area.   He is currently the Beverage Director at The Fairmount in Cleveland Heights and played a major role in changing the focus of the Fairmount from wine and martinis to classic cocktails that have modern spins with food infusions.  You can also find Mike whipping up crazy culinary cocktails around town with the guys from Stove Monkeys as the team’s Molecular Mixologist.

Providence Church BBQ Rib Burn Off

I'm sorry, I know it's been quite a while since I've posted anything. The real world has been keeping me very busy lately and I haven't been able to spend much time in the kitchen. All the time I have spent in the kitchen has been devoted to one thing, my first cooking contest! I go to Providence Church in Avon and a couple months ago they announced they were going to host a rib burn off to raise money to support the student ministry summer mission trips.  

Sunday, June 6, 12-4pm

Providence Church

35295 Detroit Road

Avon, OH  44011

 A minimum donation of $15 is requested

I've been looking for ways to become more active at Providence and felt God was calling me to this opportunity as soon as I heard about it. So I talked to the guy organizing the competition and the next thing you know I was signed up, to cook 20 racks of St. Louis Style ribs! Did I mention that before signing up I had only cooked one 1/2 rack of ribs in my entire life? Heck, I'd probably even eaten less than 10 racks in my life prior to signing up! What can I say, pulled pork is more my style but I like a good challenge.

So for the past month or so I've been making a lot of ribs. Like with all my cooking, I've tried my best to make everything from scratch and treat the food with the respect it deserves. In my opinion, the only way to properly make ribs is low and slow, on a smoker (a Weber Kettle in my case) with a big kiss of smoke from apple wood. Ribs don't belong in the oven and they should never be boiled. I wanna see the smoke ring!

No, those aren't rare, the pink is caused by the smoking process

I've created numerous different handmade rubs that started with me grinding down dried chilies and mixing them with a variety of herbs and spices; I've applied the rub directly to the ribs as well as with a couple of different handmade mustard slathers; and who could forget the sauce? While I am still in the process of finding the right BBQ sauce, I think I came pretty close tonight. Of course it's my sauce has also been completely made from scratch, even down to the ketchup and worcestershire sauce that went into the various sauces I've made.

I haven't even mentioned the biggest challenge - cooking 20 racks of ribs and having them all ready at once! I can squeeze 5 racks on my Weber at one time using a rib rack and they take close to 5 hours to cook. That means 20 hours of cooking time! Fortunately a friend has the same Weber as me and he's going to let me borrow it, so that will cut the time in half. Guess what I'll be doing all day Saturday? Let me give you a clue, it's going to smell really good in Avon Lake.

Honestly, I am still not very confident in my ability to pull this off, much less compete for the title against the other competitors. But at the end of the day, we will raise a lot of money for a really good cause, so I am happy that I decided to participate. If you are a fan of ribs, I hope you'll consider coming out this Sunday to support a great cause.

So tell me, how do you like your ribs?

• Falling off the bone or a little bite to it? 
• Covered in sauce or let the meat and dry rub shine through? 
• Smokey or baked in an oven?
• Spicy, sweet, a little of both?

I'd love to hear your thoughts and hope to see you on Sunday!