I met Andrea Kapner a few years ago, right around the time she was starting Tiny Turnips Kitchen, a Brooklyn-based organization dedicated to teaching kids to love food by immersing them in it through personalized cooking classes, recipe development, meal planning and farmer’s market tours. Andrea has been a huge cheerleader for The World in a Pocket since we kicked off this project in 2017 and we are stoked to feature her recipe for Cretan stuffed squash blossoms here on The World in a Pocket. Andrea, take it away!

AK: Stuffed squash blossoms are a traditional Cretan dish I found on a trip to Greece. After loving every bite of them, I knew I had to try this recipe with my mini chefs at cooking camp in Brooklyn.

At camp, we "traveled" to a different country every day.  For Greece, we made fry bread stuffed with feta and herbs, souvlaki, and these stuffed squash blossoms.  Squash Blossoms can really be stuffed with anything, but this recipe incorporates veggie stuffs and rice in a really fun way.  The mini chefs were amazed they could eat the blossoms! All week long they were on the lookout for “eating blossoms.”

Squash Blossom Stuffed with Wild Rice and Feta Cheese

Stuffed Squash Blossom Ingredients

Ingredients

• 10-15 Squash blossoms ( the blooms from summer squash)

• ½ cup red or white onion grated

• 1 cup tomato, grated

• 1 cup wild parboiled rice

• 1 cup water, plus 2 cups water

• 1 teaspoon dried thyme, or 1 tablespoon fresh thyme

• 1 tablespoon fresh oregano, or 1 teaspoon dried oregano

• ½ cup good olive oil

• Salt and pepper to taste

• Crumbled feta cheese

• 1 potato, peeled and quartered

Stuffed Squash Blossom Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Bring water to a boil 2 to 3 cups of water and the salt. Add rice and boil for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Drain. Refrigerate if it will be more than a couple of hours before you use it.

3. While rice is cooking grate tomatoes onions and place them in a bowl. Add salt, pepper, thyme and and 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Stir to combine.

4. Peel potato and quarter, this will help keep the squash blossom soft and moist (these bake along side, not inside).

5. When the rice has cooled, stir into the onion tomato mixture.

6. Peel back the petals and stuff with the filling. Place in a pyrex baking dish along with the potatoes. Top with olive oil, salt and half of the feta cheese. Click here to read more about male and female squash blossoms and what to do with a stamen if you are cooking with male flowers.

7. Bake for 30-40 mins until tender and rice is cooked through. Top with remaining feta.