fiori di zucchine ripiene al forno

Yesterday morning, at the fish market in town, I decided on a small portion of fresh shrimp for a simple second. I picked up a few, not knowing exactly how I would prepare them. That was until I saw a big basket of zucchini flowers attached to tiny baby zucchini sitting in the doorway of my vegetable store. My lunch menu was planned!

Oven baked Pasta Stuffed in Zucchini Flowers

First I cleaned the flowers and cut the zucchini into small pieces.

In a pan, brown garlic in a small amount of oil, then add the shrimp. Once the shrimp were cooked, I transferred them to a plate to serve as a second. All of their sweet juices remained in the pan... At this point you could add the zucchini to the pan, but I prefer to cook the zucchini in a pot of water, so not to fry them.

Once the zucchini were tender, I added them to the pan of juice. In the same pot of water I added the pasta and cooked until very al dente.

The pasta then absorbed the juices in the pan. A spoonful of fresh ricotta was added at the last moment to make it creamy.

I cut the flower down the center and opened it up. As if wrapping a present, I filled each flower with a portion of the pasta mixture and wrapped the flower around. I then placed them in a baking dish and baked them for 15 minutes at 160 degrees Celsius.

They were unbelievable good! The flower had a bit of a crunch along with the delicate zucchini and sweet shrimp flavor.