Zucchini Blossom Beignets with Sun-Dried-Tomato Mayonnaise

Recipe: Zucchini Blossom Beignets with Sun-Dried-Tomato Mayonnaise
Page: 252
Date Cooked: August 20, 2011

When I first skimmed through JW's "A Great American Cook," I did some mental note taking of the recipes. This recipe in particular stood out to me because I had never seen zucchini blossoms in the grocery store. Accordingly, I have been on the lookout for them for almost a year. However, after doing some reading I found out that they are commonly found at farmer's markets in the summer time. Unfortunately, none of the vendors at my regular farmer's market seemed to carry them. One weekend, I tried out a market I hadn't been to before and there they were! I bought them and decided to make the recipe that very day.

Ingredients: Sun-dried tomatoes, lemon, corn oil, eggs, Balsamic vinegar, tarragon, salt, pepper, flour, lager, olive oil, and zucchini blossoms

First, I placed the sun-dried tomatoes to soak in hot water for some time. While the sun-dried tomatoes soaked, I made the batter. I put flour into a bowl and created a well. I added egg yolks, beer, olive oil, salt and pepper into the well. The entire mixture was blended well and placed on the side to rest.

Making the batter

With the batter now resting, I proceed on to the make the mayonnaise. The prospect of sun-dried-tomato mayonnaise was indeed quite exciting, except of course for the mayonnaise part. However, I've continued to keep trying. I drained the tomatoes and placed them into a food processor to puree. Later, I added the egg yolks, Balsamic vinegar, and lemon juice to pulse. This time in the mayonnaise making process I used an immersion blender. I put all the contents of the food processor into a a bowl and slowly added the corn oil as I continued to blend. Well ladies and gentleman, this is the moment I have been waiting for since the very first time I made mayonnaise......I DID IT! I made mayonnaise that looked like mayonnaise! Not liquid-y at all! Perfect, could have come from a jar, good ol' mayonnaise! I'm not sure if you can tell...but it was quite exciting. I added the tarragon, few drops of balsamic, salt, and pepper to the mayonnaise; covered it and put it in the fridge.

Sun-Dried-Tomato Mayonnaise!

I then focused my attention on the zucchini blossoms. I opened each blossom carefully and removed the stamen. I closed the blossoms back up and put them in the fridge until I was going to fry.

Zucchini blossoms with removed stamens

I beated the egg whites until soft peaks formed and folded it into the batter. With the oil hot and ready in a pan, I dredged the zucchini blossoms through the batter and situated them into the hot oil until they were nicely browned. I used a slotted spoon to remove the blossom and allowed them to drain on some paper towels.

Frying up zucchini blossoms

Finally, I served the zucchini blossoms alongside the sun-dried-tomato mayonnaise.

Zucchini Blossom Beignets with Sun-Dried-Tomato Mayonnaise

I really felt that this was a bit of a treat. Not to mention, I was still running on the high of actually making mayonnaise. I did enjoy the beignets, but as light as the batter was, I thought it was too heavy for the delicate blossoms. When I later read the intro to this recipe, JW also suggests "[stuffing] the blossoms with finely minced zucchini with a few herbs and olive oil or a little chopped tomato mixed with a good soft goat cheese." And when I think about it, that suggestion could have been the trick to my feeling so torn. Moreover, in the past when I was served zucchini or squash blossoms, they are often stuffed with something. Regardless, it was still a beautiful summertime treat.

The sun-dried-tomato mayonnaise paired excellently with the zucchini blossoms. The mayonnaise provided additional salt and acidity. Speaking of the mayonnaise, I began wondering that perhaps I was so successful in producing mayonnaise this time around because the recipe called for corn oil rather than olive oil. My understanding is that corn oil has a larger unsaturated to saturated fat ratio than olive oil and perhaps this was the reason the mayonnaise thickened faster. Nonetheless, my theory on the mayonnaise will continue to develop as I continue to delve into these recipes.

Enjoy!