Stuffed courgette flowers
Though a little fiddly, stuffing courgette flowers with ricotta cream filling and serving with tomato dressing looks dazzling
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Prep:30 mins
Cook:20 mins
- Serves 4
- More effort
Nutrition per serving
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kcal 434
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fat 30g
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saturates 13g
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carbs 22g
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sugars 3g
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fibre 2g
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protein 19g
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salt 1g
Ingredients
- 8 courgette flowers, with small courgette attached
- sunflower oil, for frying
- 1 large egg
- 100g plain flour
- pinch bicarbonate of soda
- 200ml iced water
- 250g tub ricotta
- 150g block soft goat's cheese
- zest 1 lemon
- ½ red chilli, finely chopped
- small handful mint leaves, chopped
- 2 large ripe tomatoes, deseeded and finely diced
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- small handful mint leaves, finely chopped
Method
To make the batter, whisk the egg, flour and bicarb together in a wide bowl. Gradually pour in the iced water, whisking continuously, until you have a smooth batter the consistency of double cream. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, beat all the filling ingredients together with some seasoning until well mixed. To make the dressing, mix all the ingredients in a third bowl with some seasoning and set aside.
Gently open up each flower and remove the stamen if there is one. Place spoonfuls of filling inside. Close the flower, twisting the ends of the petals to seal. Heat a deep-fryer to 180C. (If you don’t have a deep-fryer, see right.) Working in batches so you don’t overcrowd the pan, dip the flowers in the batter and fry for 2 mins, then use a slotted spoon to carefully flip them and fry for another 2 mins until crisp. Drain on kitchen paper and leave in a warm place while you fry the rest. Sprinkle with a little salt and serve 2 flowers on each plate with a circle of dressing around the outside of the plate.
