Zucchini Blossom & Squash Gratin w/ Grilled Leg of Lamb & Tomato Vinegar Slaw

Our four little zucchini plants have thrown down the gauntlet and are pumping out blossoms at a record rate, leaving us scrambling for unique ways to cook them up. These things are the rabbits of the culinary niche-gardening world...Elizabeth gathered up 4 more this morning to go along with the 8 already in our fridge from this weekend...total count is 31 blossoms in the last 3 1/2 weeks.

Elizabeth adapted one of her signature recipes (Squash Mini Casseroles - follow the link) to incorporate the blossoms.

She chopped the older blossoms up into quarters and sauteed them along with the yellow squash, them blended the veg saute into a mix of panko bread cumbs, greek yogurt & a smidgen of goat cheese.

She had the idea to crispy fry some blossoms and place them atop a finished & browned gratin.

We dusted the blossom in some seasoned rice flour then dipped them into a 375 degree canola oil bath.

I had to hold the blossom lightly to shape the blossom & keep the leaves from spreading open in the fryer, but the end result yielded beautifully crispy blossoms for garnishing the mini squash casserole with.

To accompany the squash we purchased 2 lbs. of butterflied leg of lamb from Whole Foods; it was on sale at 6.99 per lb., which made for a perfect grilled accompaniment to the casseroles...plus, there would be plenty of leftovers.

Here's the final result of the grilling...char-grilled exterior, pinky medium-rare center.

I scored the meat on both sides, marinated this hunk of lamb in some salt, pepper, garlic & lemon juice for 1/2 hour and then threw it meat side down on a blazing hot grill to char, before flipping it over, fat-side down, and cooking for another 20-30 minutes on indirect heat.

After the center registered 135, I pulled the lamb off the grill, plucked a handful of thyme from the garden and threw it atop the lamb as it was tented in some foil to rest for 10 minutes.

To accompany the lamb, we made a tomato & red onion slaw, spiced with salt, pepper, mint & cumin, drenched in olive oil & red wine vinegar and allowed to steep in the fridge while the lamb cooked on the grill. The minty cool and bracingly tart tomato & onion salad worked well to softened the strong char-grill of the lamb.

More Market Fare - Spring Rolls & Summer Seared Mahi Mahi

With wonderfully flavorful cucumbers & tomatoes, we had to build something around them.



Elizabeth broke out her spring roll skills tonight for starters. Here we've got a cucumber, crab & avocado spring rolls, laced with ginger, carrot and cilantro.



Served with three sauces, each of the complexity of the rolls could be tasted; salty Ume vinegar brought out the cucumber, while the sweet tomato sauce highlighted the crab and the heat of the srirachi-soy sauce was cooled by the avocado.


The Mahi-Mahi was on sale at SuperFresh for 6.99. I coated the fillets with a blended mix of shallots (3 parts), basil(2 parts), parsley(1 part), ginger(1 part) and olive oil (1 part), dash of salt & pepper, letting the mix sit on the fish for 15 minutes.

We top the fish with a diced mix of summer-fresh tomato (3 parts), cucumber (2 parts), onion (1 part), ginger (1 part), soy-sauce (1 tblspn), Sesame Oil (1 tblspn), and 1 lime squeezed and two squirts of srirachi hot sauce, and a dash of salt & pepepr. Let the sauce meld...your fish should be ready to sautee.

Carefully lay the fish into a hot pan with oil to sear on the herb crust, about 2 minutes on the first side, then turn the heat down and sear on the other side for 5-6 minutes. Get a nice semi-blackened crust and you're good to go. Smother the fish with your cucumber-tomato salsa and serve.


C & E