Nothing says high summer more than a glut of courgettes from the garden. A few days before we went away for our break in Dorset a few weeks ago, I made this recipe to try and stem the flow of courgettes that would turn into marrows while we were away. It worked and we had a delicious dinner out of it too. Doubly good!
Stuffed Courgette Flowers
8-10 courgette flowers, ideally with little courgettes attached but the flowers still fresh 1-2L sunflower oil for frying 200g tub ricotta cheese 4 tablespoons freshly grated Parmesan 1 tbsp finely chopped chives and same of mint zest of half a lemon 4 tbsp plain flour 1 tbsp corn flour 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp salt
Prepare the flowers by opening them up carefully and shaking out any bugs, but do not wash them.
Mix the cheeses, herbs and lemon zest in a bowl. Taste and season – will probably need some salt and quite a bit of pepper.
Fill the flowers with the mixture, being careful not to split them and twist the tips of the petals together to seal.
Make the batter by putting the flours, baking powder and salt into a bowl and whisking to remove lumps. Then whisk in enough ice cold water until consistency of single cream i.e. pretty thin.
Heat the oil in a deep sided pan until it reaches 180 ºC on a thermometer.
Quickly dip a stuffed courgette flower into the batter, allow the worst of drips to come off and then carefully drop into the hot oil.
Only cook a few at a time so the pan is not over crowded. They need a couple of minutes on both sides until golden and crisp.
Drain on kitchen paper while cooking the rest.
Serve immediately with a fresh salad and a cold glass of vino!
