Summer's here, and the time is right

Now if you can fill in that line, based on a great song, I am in love with you, because it means you're just about the same age as me. Bonus points if you can give the original source of the song - NOT the David Bowie/Mick Jagger duet (which, I must admit does have its redeeming values).

And yes, it may indeed be time for dancing in the streets, but it's time for the seasonal cook to "get a grip." Every single day, the market is changing as new fruits and vegetables come in. And what that means for us is that planning a menu is really an exercise in delightful frustration. For example, I had planned to serve a rhubarb galette for dessert at a dinner party last night. That went by the boards, when the first peaches of the season came in. I will be writing about peaches a lot over the summer. This first batch were the "cling" peaches. Not as juicy and sweet as the later, freestones will be, but still.... This is really like getting reacquainted with an old friend you haven't seen for a while. The cherries are in, and their season is always too s hort, so we're putting them down as fast as we can (I mean our gullets. I WILL be looking at sour cherry pickle, though). So a peach and cherry cobbler replaced the galette. No one minded. And I think there were probably somewhere between seven and ten vegetables on the plates.

But this also means that you have to get ready to say goodbye to some earlybirds. The peas will be gone soon, as will the asparagus. Nettles are gone, so are dandelion greens. Ramps and fiddleheads are away until next spring, and you just wave and say "see you next year." And that's how it goes.

One of the delights of the warmer weather are fried squash blossoms. This deceptively easy treat says "summer" more than just about anything else you can buy, because these are fragile, perishable delights, that just aren't around when it's cool or cold.

A bit of background. If you have every grown squash, melons, or cucumbers, you will be acquainted with the enormous number of yellow flowers that the plant produces. And you may very well be thinking "WOW. Look at all the cucumbers/squash/melons I'm gonna get."

Uh uh. Half of those flowers are male flowers, and they will never produce fruit. They are there simply to pollinate the female flowers (this is done, by the way, almost always by a beetle. Show some respect the next time you want to crush one of these guys). And if all of the female flowers "set" fruit, then the plant would die. It would become too heavy from the weight of the fruit. So again, some of those flowers have to come off. Farmers I have spoken to say that four out of every five flowers on a squash plant come off.

So, what do you do with them? Well, in the United States, until farmers caught on, these flowers were used as animal food, for pigs, or other scavenging animals. Europeans, and Mexicans, however, saw a good thing for what it was, and use them as a comestible for people. Mexican cooking has recipes for their use in soups, in fillings for tortillas, and other uses that I can't even think of (you can buy canned Mexican squash flowers, but to me, this is a waste of money). In Europe, especially in Italy, they are used in risotto (where they give a beautiful color and an interesting texture), stuffed and baked, or, as I will talk about here, deep fried.

Eating a deep fried squash blossom is, to me, participating in summer at the highest level. They taste to me a bit like a squash potato chip. And knowing that they will be here only for a few months is a tease. The fact that frying them makes them taste very rich, and that you can really only eat another few, is another tease. It's like reaching for that chip you really can't or shouldn't eat: how far can you go, before you feel so stuffed you can't move? I sometimes think that we have people over during the summer just so I can make and eat these guys. Making them for one or two people is silly, because at most, with a completely empty stomach, I think I can eat six of them. As I never have an empty stomach, well... My normal rule is three per person, as an antipasto. I make them as often as I can during the summer. The recipe is simple. Read below, and make them. You'll be glad you did.

What you will need are squash blossoms, flour of some kind (see below), water, and oil. Vegetable oil, for its inert flavor. Your blossoms should look the way fresh, ornamental flowers do. They should be crisp, and bright, and not look soggy or wilted. DONT wash them. Look at them carefully, if there is anything "foreign" in them, including beetles , just brush them off.

Fill a pot or pan with about two inches of vegetable oil, and heat it to 325/350. How do you know it's there? We'll come to that....

Now, make your batter. Giving exact proportions here is difficult, because the humidity in the air impacts this, as does how thick a coating you want. I prefer a thin one, that is almost invisible, but there are others who prefer a puffier consistency. What I start with is 1.5 cups of flour, in a bowl, and then I add water until I have something that is the consistency of , say, buttermilk. Then I test the oil. I test it by dropping a spoon of the batter into the oil. Does it sizzle and fry up? If it does, you're ready. If not, keep heating.

Have a tray with brown paper, or paper towel, or the section of the newspaper you don't read, ready. Dip the blossoms into the batter, and let the excess drip off. Then drop them into the oil. Don't do too many at a time. If I'm using a ten inch pan, I try to do six at a time, at most.

They need about t wo minutes per side to cook.Flip them, and as I always say, LISTEN to the cooking. When the heavy duty sizzling stops, and you have the low sizzle, it's time to take them out and drain them.

You can salt these in the kitchen, before you serve them to guests, but I like to put out a bowl of salt for people to take their own.

I love these with plain, white flour based batter. But I'm intrigued by cooks who use chickpea flour. I've eaten these that way in restaurants, and loved them. Sometimes I also add panko breadcrumbs to the batter and get a textured, crispy flavor. I have also had them with curry powder mixed in.

The one thing you must NEVER put in the batter, is salt. The salt will draw all of the water out of the flowers and you'll get what my friend Matt calls a "hot mess." Wait until the guys are fried and then salt them.

Within a half hour of doing these, they will begin to get soggy, so have your guests ready. It's a special summer treat that you really shouldn't miss. Everyone thinks of summer fruit and summer ice cream and summer drinks, but here's a summer fry for you. Try it. I think you'll get acquainted with something you'll love.

And of course, if I have an excuse to fry up a batch... so just come on over.