This month's supper club theme was locally grown foods. Our hosts provided the main dish of grilled fish (fresh from the Gulf) and brisket chili. The rest of the group brough zucchini bread, a tomato and goat cheese salad, fried okra, fresh figs, and a peach and blueberry cobbler with bourbon laced ice cream.

I brought 2 side dishes as my contribution: a summer squash stir-fry and stuffed zucchini blossoms. I chose squash as my side dish since it's really easy to find at the farmer's market, and I love zucchini. It's a simple and easy vegetable to cook. I just sliced it up with some yellow squash, onion, and jalapenos; threw it into a pan with some oil; added some salt and pepper to taste; and sauted it until the vegetables were cooked. I capped it off with a splash of soy sauce to taste.

The zucchini blossoms, which I had never had before but wanted to try, were chosen because I figure if I didn't like it someone at the dinner would like it and it wouldn't go to waste. Zucchini blossoms are usually fried, but you can use them in salads or pastas or sauted with onions. There were also various batter recipes for the zucchini blossoms - flour and water/club soda, with and without egg, flour and beer. I chose the Epicurean recipe and tweaked it a bit to fit my taste. The original one called for a goat cheese and cream cheese filling. I think I'd have preferred a lighter batter (like a panko batter), but this was still tasty (and was a hit at dinner).

1. Dip the squash blossoms in cold water and drain them thoroughly on paper towels. Remove the stamens from the male blossoms.

2. Place cream cheese filling into a plastic sandwich bag; gather the filling towards one corner of the bag bottom and snip a corner off to make yourself a home-made pastry bag. Fill each squash blossom with about 2 teaspoons of filling. Slightly twist the tops of each blossom to "close" each blossom.

3. To make the batter, in a medium bowl, stir together the flour, club soda, milk, egg and cayenne pepper. Let sit for one hour in the fridge.

4. Fill a heavy saucepan or skillet with oil to a depth of 2 inches. Heat over medium heat to 375 degrees.

5. Dip a few squash blossoms into batter, covering entire blossom, and drop them into the hot oil. Fry until golden brown, about 1 minute, turn over and fry on the other side for another minute (or until golden brown). Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on paper towels. Repeat with the remaining blossoms, being careful not to overcrowd the pan.

6. Add salt and pepper and serve immediately.