Hello everybody!
For the first time in 4 years I’ve finally found courgette flowers in a lovely farm near Cambridge! During summer I’ve always eaten them in Italy but since I moved here I’ve never found them in the markets, so when I saw that there was a farm near home where I could buy them I was sooooo happy! 🙂
They are beautiful and colourful, delicious in pasta especially with salmon, but the tastier way you can eat them is fried! In Italy we use to say that everything tastes better when you fry it and it’s so true, isn’t it?
Here’s my version of stuffed zucchini flower, I hope you will love them!
Stuffed courgette flowers
Ingredients
- For the filling
- courgette flowers: 12
- mozzarella: 3
- anchovy fillets in oil: 5/6
- sundried tomato in oil: 1
- For the batter
- plain flour sifted: 125 grams
- medium eggs (whites separated from yolks): 2
- oil or melted butter: 3 tbsp.
- beer or water: 200 grams
- salt (a pinch)
- sunflower oil for frying (as needed)
Instructions
- The night before finely chop the mozzarella, put it in a covered colander over a bowl, put a weight on top and set in the fridge. It will help getting rid of the water.
- The day after start preparing the batter: in a big bowl put the flour, salt, egg yolks and oil (or butter if you've chosen it), mix well using a whisk then slowly pour over the beer (if you use the water remember to dissolve in it 7 grams of dried yeast 15 minutes before preparing the batter). Whisk until you have a smooth and lump free mixture. Cover and let it rest for an hour at room temperature.
- After the rest whip the egg whites to firm peaks and fold them into the batter using a rubber spatula (or your hand). Set aside covered for another hour.
- Wash the flowers and lay them on kitchen paper to dry. Gently open each flower and remove the stamen. Cut also the stalk and the sepals (the small leaves at the base of the flower). Chop the anchovies with the sundried tomato and mix them with the mozzarella. Fill the flowers with this mixture and close twisting the ends of the petals to seal.
- Heat the oil. Dip few flowers at a time into the batter and fry for a couple of minutes turning them upside down to have an even golden colour. Drain on kitchen paper and cover with foil while you are frying the rest.Serve hot.
