Na Pua O Zucchini

A title like this, I may get some “whipping” from the Kumu, especially when I skip hula this morning. We were supposed to go to a classic car show, Mr Wonderful got an emergency call and he has to go to work for a few hours.

Na pua means the flower in Hawaiian. I am playing off the name of one of the Makaha sons’ album “Na Pua o Hawaii”. Now you know what I am going to write about today, Zucchini flower

Zucchini blossoms have become a very popular “vegetable” in the past few years. It’s delicate and it is wonderful stuffed with a goat cheese, bread it with panko, then fried. It is one of my favorite appetizer or as a light meal.

There were zucchini blossoms in the CSA for the last few weeks. I am getting a bit bored with the same old stuffed preparation. I was going to stuff it (yes stuffed again) with Mexican cheese and make it into a zucchini version of chili relleno, and serve it with a tomato sauce. However, Mr Wonderful is requesting a German dinner tonight, a REAL man’s dinner with meat. Instead of having Zucchini for dinner, I am going to make this into  a Saturday skillet breakfast.

Relleno inspired Zucchini and Eggs breakfast skillet

1 medium zucchini, clean and sliced into long slices

4 squash blossoms, stem removed, clean and slit open

½ cup of shredded Mexican Chihuahua cheese, you can also use Jack cheese, I like Chihauhau, it melts beautifully and it does not burn easily.

2 eggs

Salt and pepper

Olive oil

Directions:

Prepare all the vegetable and shred the cheese.

In a med seasoned cast-iron skillet or non-stick frying pan, heat 2 tablespoon of olive oil till hot.

Lay the slices of zucchini in the pan in a single layer

Brown both side, season lightly with salt and pepper. Be careful not to over salt, the cheese is a little salty.

Low the heat to medium low, sprinkle half of the shredded cheese on the slices, let it melt a little

Layer the blossom on top of the cheese, I prefer the cut side up (just a preference, not important)

Sprinkle the rest of the cheese on the flower. Let it cook for a couple of min, till you see the cheese starts to melt.

Crack an egg one at a time in a bowl and slowly slide the egg on top of the vegetable, one next to the other.

Cover the pan and let it cook 4-5 min till the eggs are cooked to your preference. 

We like the yoke a little running with nice firm white. The yoke become a rich sauce over the skillet melt.

You can serve the skillet, farm style on the table or plate it, toasts on the side.  We don’t get too fancy in the morning. Just keeping my morning simple till the serious caffeine kicks in.

 Serve 2

Enjoy

Aloha!