I heard somewhere you could eat the male flowers from the zucchini plant, so this had the wheels turning all morning, and I decided we’d try it… because what else would we do with those precious flowers? - and apparently picking them off could double our yield for zucchini… so off I went to look for a recipe!

After a long day of housework and thinning the over planted garden, I scurried off to the kitchen to whip up an experimental dinner with deep-fried zucchini blossoms over a bed of lettuce, asparagus - pancetta mozza with sundried tomato mayo on focaccia and fried zucchini with toasted pistachios, baked with parmigiano reggiano cheese.

I’m lucky that Marty is adventurous to some extent with what I make, because it’s not every guy (or girl for that matter) that will chow down, willingly, on flowers for dinner.
Nonetheless, everything was eaten… Marty didn’t really like the sundried tomato mayo used on the sandwich & I didn’t like the pancetta… once I removed it from my 2nd half, the sandwich became way less salty and therefore I could taste the flavors of the tomato mayo that much more.

I think next time I make this, I’ll try a roasted red pepper pesto instead - and leave out the salty pancetta. The zucchini we ate was picked from the garden that morning, as well as all the blossoms that were fried up.
I will defiantly make the blossoms when I come across flowers again, they were pretty cool. The sandwich just needs a little perfecting, but after all, it was an experimental dinner with some positives… glad I made lots - we have lunch for today too!

We made this the other night along with the grilled shrimp and it was fantastic!!
I found the recipe here: Grilled Corn Salad
The grocery store was out of zucchini so I substituted with 2 peaches, and the flavor was just awesome, complimented the cumin perfectly! We left out the cilantro because neither of us like it, but I remember reading somewhere that Italian flat-leaf parsley can be a good substitute for cilantro.The ears of corn were grilled after shucking them, which gave the salad a nice crunch, and used goat cheese which made it nice and creamy.

Ingredients

* 4 ears of corn, do not shuck (or 2 1/2 cups frozen corn for the non-grill option)
* 1 large red bell pepper
* 1 5-inch long zucchini, sliced in half lengthwise
* 1/2 cup chopped red onion
* 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
* 1 serrano chili pepper, seeded and minced (optional)
* 1 teaspoon ground cumin (best if you toast whole cumin seeds then grind)
* 1/4 cup crumbly salty cheese such as feta or cotija (optional)
* 2 Tbsp olive oil
* 2 Tbsp cider vinegar or lime juice
* Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Method

1 Prepare your grill for high, direct heat. Oil the grill grates. Rub a little olive oil over the bell pepper. Place the corn (in their husks) and red bell pepper directly on the grill grates. (See our method for grilling corn-on-the-cob.) Cover the grill.

Turn corn occasionally, so that every part of the husk is blackened. Turn the red bell pepper occasionally until the skin has blistered up all around it. This should take 15 to 20 minutes.

For the last 5 minutes or so, rub olive oil over the zucchini pieces and place the zucchini pieces directly on the grill grate, cut side down. Turn them over after a few minutes when they have some nice grill marks on them. Let them cook for just a minute or two on the other side.

1a - no grill version Alternatively you can prepare the vegetables on the stove-top. Shuck the corn and use a knife to remove the kernels from the cobs. If you don’t have fresh corn, you can easily use frozen. Coat the bottom of a large, sturdy relatively stick-free (can use cast iron) pan with a little olive oil. Heat the pan to high. Spread out the corn kernels on the pan. If frozen, they will defrost almost immediately. Don’t stir them that much, just let them cook, stirring occasionally, until they start to toast. When they get a little browned, remove them from the pan to a bowl. Lay the zucchini pieces on the pan and brown on both sides, do not over cook, remove from pan. The bell pepper does not need to be cooked, it can just be seeded and chopped fine.

2 Let the corn cool down for a few minutes and pull back the husks. Stand the corn husks vertically, tip facing down, in a large shallow bowl or baking dish. Use a sharp knife to make long, downward strokes, removing the kernels from the cob, as you work your way around the cob.

Once the bell pepper has cooled a bit, remove the outer peel. Cut open the pepper, remove the seeds and stem. Chop the bell pepper into small pieces.

Slice the slightly browned zucchini again lengthwise and chop into small pieces.

3 Place grilled or toasted corn kernels, chopped bell pepper, chopped zucchini, red onion, cilantro, and serrano (if using) into a large bowl. Add the cumin, olive oil, vinegar or lime juice, and crumbly cheese (if using). Mix gently. Salt and pepper to taste.

Serve cold or at room temperature. Serves 4.

This was a great, simple sauce for shrimp I found and made the other night. I omitted the liquid smoke because neither one of us is crazy about mesquite. I also let the shrimp marinate in the sauce for the amount of time the grill heated up.

I grilled the shrimp for about 7 mins on high with the lid open.
Grilled Shrimp with Grapefruit BBQ Sauce
Ingredients

* 1 cup rice, regular or instant
* Cooking spray
* 3/4 cup grapefruit juice
* 1/4 cup ketchup
* 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
* 1 tablespoon brown sugar
* 1 teaspoon chili powder
* 1 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1 tablespoon olive oil
* 1 teaspoon liquid smoke
* 3 pounds large or jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined
* 1/4 cup scallions, chopped

Directions

Cook rice according to package directions.

Over medium high heat, with cooking spray, heat a stove-top grill pan or griddle.

In a shallow dish, whisk together grapefruit juice, ketchup, mustard, sugar, chili powder, cumin, olive oil and liquid smoke. Add shrimp and toss to coat. Place shrimp on the grill and cook 2 minutes per side, or until bright pink and cooked through. Serve half of the shrimp over the rice and top with scallions. Reserve the remaining shrimp for po’ boy sandwiches, if desired.