I adore squash blossoms. A few local farmers market vendors sell them here, and I always buy as many as they have for sale. I make pesto, risotto, quesadillas, soup, and sometimes just lightly batter and fry them. I admit I have a little problem. I cannot resist buying them, and buying them in bulk. At the height of summer, I am in full canning mode, so I tend to bring home huge amounts of produce to put up. I often find that my love for summer finds outstrips reality. That is to say, I buy more than I have the time or energy to deal with. On one of those occasions when I found myself a little worn out after canning the bounty, but I still had a quantity of freshly picked squash blossoms. I knew I needed to use them, but felt a little overwhelmed by the idea of one more project. Inspiration struck suddenly for a way to make the most of the fresh flowers, but also save them for later use, a simple composed butter. That sparked my memory of one of my favorite summer simple tricks – pasta butter balls.
The end result of this buttery pasta dish reminds me of another favorite – cacio e pepe, simple linguine is tossed with butter, pecorino cheese, salt and lots of pepper. But this version has a special touch added by the squash blossoms, which also lends a lovely orangey-yellow color. And of course, you can use this butter any way you want – melted over a grilled chicken breast, tossed with vegetables (squash is an obvious choice) or spread on toasted bread.
- 2 cloves garlic
- 12 squash blossoms
- 2 Tablespoons Italian parsley leaves
- ½ cup grated Parmegiano-Regianno cheese
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- salt and pepper to taste
- Drop the garlic cloves into the bowl of a small food processor and pulse to finely chop. Pull the yellow petals off the squash blossoms and tear them into pieces and drop in the bowl. Discard any green leaves and the stamens. Add the parsley, then pulse a few times to finely chop. Add the cheese and pulse to combine, then add the butter, cut into pieces. Pulse until the butter is well combined, scraping down the side of the bowl as needed. Add salt and grinds of black pepper to taste. Be generous with the pepper.
- Scoop the butter into a bowl, or roll it up in logs in waxed paper and refrigerate until ready to use. The butter logs can also be frozen for several months.
- To use the butter, cook your favorite pasta according to the package instructions. Reserve about a cup of the cooking water than drain the pasta. Melt some of the butter in a large skillet and whisk in enough of the pasta cooking water to coat the pasta. Whisk until the sauce is smooth and creamy, then toss in the cooked pasta.
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