Did you know you can eat the flowers that bloom from your squash and zucchini plants? You sure can! Traditionally, people fry these guys after dipping them in an egg bath and then corn meal. However, not having any corn meal, I took a different route.

I made Haris come and help me harvest these bad boys. Hence why you see his hand in the picture below. Don’t be confused, my hands aren’t that manly. We decided to sub out the corn meal for some good old Italian seasoned bread crumbs which worked out perfectly because these flowers were headed to the tops of French Bread Pizza. They turned out great too! It’s hard to explain the actual flavor and the Italian seasonings were a bit overpowering, but the flowers have this mellow floral after-taste, nothing like a rose petal, but light and airy. I don’t think any of that makes sense, but it was great! I will for sure be making these again in the traditional way to be able to give you all a better insight into what these taste like.

Anyways, here’s a brief recipe on the Fried Italian Squash Blossoms:

Ingredients:

• Squash Blossoms (pick in the morning, but be careful not too pick too many off any one plant or else what will the bees pollenate to help your veggies grow?)
• Italian Bread Crumbs
• Flour
• Salt
• Olive oil (enough to fry the blossoms in, but not drown them)
• 1 Egg

Directions:

1. Rinse off the squash blossoms.
2. Mix the flour, bread crumbs and salt on a plate.
3. Whisk the egg in a bowl.
4. Warm up the olive oil in a skillet.
5. Dip each blossom, one at a time, in the egg, then in the bread crumb mixture. Repeat once.
6. Place the breaded blossom in the skillet and using a pair of tongs turn it over after about a minute of frying. The breading should turn nice and crispy golden brown. Be careful that the oil is not too hot! We don’t want to burn the poor things!
7. Remove the blossom from the skillet and let it rest on a paper towel.
8. Enjoy!

That’s right, we made pizza! What I like about making your own pizza at home is that you can choose not only what toppings but how many toppings you get! I knew I wanted to the fried squash blossoms on a pizza, but I wasn’t sure what I was going to pair them with. Thank you internet for always having my back.

According to the interwebs, goat cheese and ricotta would pair perfectly with the blossoms. So off to the store we went for some cheese. On our way there, we discussed our meat options. I was thinking prosciutto (because I’m obsessed) and Haris decide chorizo all the way! Once at the store my prosciutto transformed into its cousin pancetta and we decided to throw on some arugula and spinach for color.

We picked up some ready to bake garlic french bread from the store’s bakery and then headed home with all of our pizza ingredients in hand.

And look at these beauties before the oven.

And after the oven! Even though making pizzas on French Bread that you don’t have to bake for yourself is pretty easy to do without a recipe. I’m going to include one for you all, just in case! Just know, you can switch out the toppings to whatever you like! The sky is the limit here in pizza land!

Green, White and Red All Over French Bread Pizza

Ingredients:

• French Bread (Garlic or Regular; Homemade or Store Bought, whatever you want!)
• Pizza Sauce (Buy a small jar, even if you think you want the big one, you won’t use it all!)
• Ricotta
• Goat cheese
• Arugula and Spinach (buy the mixed package, put the extra in eggs or eat as a salad)
• Chopped white onion
• Pancetta (fry this up a little in a skillet before putting it on the pizza! Love that salty flavor)
• Chorizo (we bought the pepperoni looking one, not the one you gotta cook before topping pizza with it!)
• Fried Squash Blossoms

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees (yes ovens for that high!)
2. Cut that french bread in half if the store didn’t do that for you already! Place the crust side down on a foil covered cookie sheet. Believe me, cover that tray with foil and you’ll have less to clean up later. (You’re welcome.)
3. Lather on a nice layer of pizza sauce, you can put whatever amount you really want. This isn’t Dominos, you ain’t gotta extra for that!
4. Now decorate that pizza with all the toppings. Make it pretty or ugly, uniformed or abstract. It’s your pizza… do with it what you want!
5. Next, place it in the oven for about 10 minutes. That’s all it should need. The cheese will be melty and your life complete!
6. Let it cool a little and then dig in and Enjoy!

See you all in a few days with a Homemade Hero blog you won’t wanna miss!