Stuffed Squash and Zucchini Flowers

A great pass around hors d oeuvre or just a nice side dish. You may have to start a garden for this one. This isn't a quick one either it takes a little time and patience. The plants don't flower overnight.LOL

12 to 18 flowers : When picking the flowers from your garden make sure to clip about an inch and a half below the flower so you have a stem
8 0z container of Whole Milk Riccotta Cheese
Tblsp. Cracked Black Pepper
2 large eggs
2 tblsp of shredded Pecorino Romano Cheese. Not the fine ground.
1 Can Fresh Jumbo lump Crabmeat
Batter mix of some kind wheter it be a Beer Batter or Fish Batter. Do not use a coating style. Use a Batter style
1 can of Vegetable Shortening. The solid kind . You know it looks white and has a texture of say a jar of Vaseline.lol

Mix all ingredients except for the flowers and the batter in a mixing bowl. Do this by hand with a nice wooden spoon.

Fill the flowers carefully with the Ricotta mixture making sure that it cant leak out of the flower . Tighten up the tips so that the flower looks like an un opened Bud. Don't make the flowers too thin either. They can be nice and plump.

In a deep pan add the vegetable shortening and turn stove on so it melts and becomes very hot . Make sure you have a good amount of oil because your going to be deep frying those flowers.

Make your batter. Holding the Flower from the stem carefully dip the whole flower into the Batter covering the whole flower . Then Carefully place the battered Flower into the Hot oil. Carefully! Don't burn yourself . Cook until that batter becomes crispy and golden brown.

Remove the flower from oil and place on a folded paper bag . That helps remove the dripping oil on the Batter and keeps it crispy.

A nice glass of Pinot Grigio or even a Portuguese Vinho Verde compliments these tasty crispy buds.

Cowboy Rub

Ahhh the Western Frontier. All you cowboys out there might enjoy this one. Started this recipe about 10 years ago. Came up in conversation and now I hear it's becoming a bit popular. Again I am sticking with the end of summer Grilling attraction so you might find this neat. I have only created and used this rub on Beef only. Ny Strips and Porterhouse Steaks seem to be the choice of meat.

2 NY Strips or Porterhouse steaks
3 Tablesp of Fine Ground Coffee or Espresso. No You Can't Use Instant Coffee.
1/2 teasp of Fine Back Pepper

Mix coffee and pepper in a plastic bag.

With a fork poke some holes on each side of the beef

Sprinkle dry rub on either side of Beef rubbing it in very well. Let sit about 20 minutes. You don't want to coat as much as the SB rub for the ribs but make sure you do rub that coffe rub into the meat.

Fire up your grill and start cooking to your liking. It has a fantastic flavor and the coffee isn't gritty when you chew the meat.

Grilled veggies like eggplant, asparagus and portobello mushrooms really go well with this dish especially the mushrooms. You can also soak un shucked fresh corn on the cob in water 2 hours prior and grill that with the husks still on . Talk about bein out west.

I like drinking an Argentinian Malbec to round this out.

After dinner curl up together on the porch swing, turn off all the lights and look up at the stars.