I think I'm getting the hang of these.
I'd read somewhere that you should slice the petals open - a quick snip along one side is all you need to do - to stuff them.� I tried it with these yesterday, and it made things easier�- I could remove the stamen easily and the delicate blossom didn't just split open in random spots.
I made the filling of ricotta, oregano, sage, salt and pepper.� I left the oregano leaves whole, since they're pretty small, and julienned the sage leaves.
It's a lot easier to stuff the blossoms when they're already laying flat on the counter, and all I have to do is give each one a nice-sized blob of filling and then wrap the petals around.� Then I just closed the petal tips with a toothpick (although that toothpick may not have even been necessary - I'll try them without it next time) and froze them for a while until it was time to fry.
This time around, I dredged them first in plain flour, then dipped them in an egg thinned with some water, and then into a blend of half flour/half cornmeal, plus salt and pepper.�
They fried up nicely.� Unfortunately, there is no evidence of this as they were eaten very shortly after I removed the toothpicks.
Bill said they were the best ones so far (this is my third batch - didn't write up the second batch for some reason), and I agree with him.� I like the texture of the cornmeal - it accentuates the crunch and balances out the softness of the filling.
I still plan to bake a batch some time, but I'll wait til I have a larger batch to do that.
Carry on.
