Cajun French: le cachat (lu ka-sha) – squash
Spring time means squash blossoms!
We get excited when squash blossoms are available at the farmers market. They are fragile flowers yet so much fun to cook with. The first ones of the season are always for stuffing. Unlike most recipes, we do not batter and deep fry; we stuff and pan fry. Pan frying allows the flavor of the squash and its flower to blossom to its fullest flavor.
Mais C’est Bon!
Enjoy!!
Ingredients:
Stuffed Squash:
- 12 squash blossoms
- Olive oil
- 1 Tbl green bell pepper, finely chopped
- 2 Tbl cooked mushrooms, finely chopped
- 1 Tbl crabmeat
- 1-3 tsp seasoned bread crumbs
- 1 tsp almond butter
- Cajun seasoning
- Salt
We used female blossoms which have baby fruit attached
Clean out the blossom by taking out the yellow fuzzy center
Using cool water lightly rinse the blossom and fruit to remove any dirt
Set aside
Heat 1 tsp olive oil to medium in heavy skillet
Sauté green bell pepper until tender
Turn heat to low
Add mushrooms, crabmeat and bread crumbs
Add enough bread crumbs to form a soft ball
Add almond butter
Season to taste
Remove stuffing from heat and cool to room temperature
Place stuffing in a small plastic bag and cut off the end of the bag, about ½”
Take each blossom, gently opening it as much as possible
Squeeze stuffing into blossom filling about half way
Twist the top of the blossom to seal
Place approximately 1/8” of olive oil in skillet and heat to medium
Place blossoms in skillet and cook 1-2 minutes
Turn blossoms and cook on second side 1-2 minutes
Turn off heat and let blossoms sit in skillet
Catfish:
- 1# catfish filets
- 2 tsp olive oil
- Juice of ½ lime
- Salt
- Cayenne pepper
- Paprika
Wash and pat dry filets
Squeeze lime over filets
Season good side of fish with salt, cayenne pepper, and paprika
Heat olive oil to medium in heavy skillet
Place fish good side down
Cook 1-2 minutes
Turn fish and cook until done
Cooking time will vary upon thickness of fish
Hi Laurie, I can’t wait to try the squash blossum and beet salad recipes. For some reason we don’t see the blossums or a variety of beets much around here. I have yet to find a decent farmers market near by. Will try the local one again this afternoon with high hopes. And for the crab, we’ll need to make a trip to Seabrook for real crab and fresh seafood soon. We recently had a death in the family in Florida so we made the grand tour of South Louisiana and the Gulf Coast on the way, just in time for the Crawfish Festival opening day in Breaux Bridge and Jazz Festival in NOLA. What a treat to order crab cakes made with real crab! We actually drove through St. Martinville when we made a side trip to Avery Island to see the birds. I’ve been there several times but never when the birds were there. It has been to many years to count since I’ve been through your home town. It’s a really lovely place. Next time I hope we have time to go through the Longfeffow/Evangeline Park. Ya’ll keep traveling and keep making up these great recipes!
Thanks for the comment. It sounds like ya’ll had a great time in south Louisiana and along the gulf coast. We have a new organic farm selling at the Red Stick Farmers Market and they have amazing items including various beets and celery root and lots of greens. Every Spring we wait for the squash blossoms and this year they were fantastic. Some were very large and easy to work with. We hope you find that ideal Farmers Market soon as well as the fresh seafood. We were sorry to hear of the death in your family.