This week’s Kitchen Confidential comes from Adrian, a cook at our 543 cafeteria who hails from Harlem, New York. Adrian grew up with a diverse group of friends and neighbors who all taught him a little something about food. This week he’s making a tempura battered zucchini flower, stuffed with crab and laid over a bed of mixed greens with orange and fennel, all dressed in red wine vinaigrette.
Ingredients:
For the batter:
Equal parts of all purpose flour and rice flour
2 cups corn starch
Club soda equals parts or until you get a nice consistency like a pancake batter
Zucchini Blossoms (you can usually find these at any Wholefoods)
Crab Mix:
Crab meat
Lemon zest
Garlic
Fresh herbs; chives and parsley
A little mayo
Salt and pepper
Salad
Mixed greens salad
Oranges
Fennel
Shallots
Red wine vinegar
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Directions:
Mix the dry ingredients together. Whisk with a bit of club soda, pouring in bit by bit until you reach a nice batter consistency. Add salt and pepper.
Slice the shallot and fennel for your salad. A great tool to do this with is a Japanese mandolin.
Mix the crab, lemon, garlic, herbs, mayo, salt, and pepper. Then either using a plastic bag or a piping bag, fill the blossoms.
If you have a fryer, prepare it for frying. If not, heat a generous amount of canola oil in a skillet.
Dip the filled blossoms into the tempura batter, and then quickly drop into the fryer or skillet. You’ll want to gently glide the blossoms back and forth over the oil before you fully drop them in. Remove as soon as they appear lightly crispy.
Place on fried blossoms onto a paper towel and season straight away
Mix greens together with red wine, vinegar, olive oil, salt and pepper.
Place a generous amount of salad onto a plate. Cut Orange segments, trim away all the white veins and throw a couple of slices onto the side of your plate. Toss on the fennel and shallot slices. Place the fried zucchini blossom on top.
Zest some lemon on top and there you have it!
mmm looks yummy!
thank you for posting step by step photos and serving suggestions
Wheeeee! Keep the recipes comin’, please! Yummers.