Dinner last night was baby courgettes and blossoms, stuffed with goats cheese, red onion & pine nights, pan fried in tempura batter and served with a fresh spinach salad. I had never tried Zucchini flowers before and they definitely did not disappoint! When you pick the courgettes the ideal ones for this recipe are the smallest with the flowers still attached, the flowers were an extra 20p each which were a lot cheaper than buying from a store. This recipe was truly amazing and I would highly recommend trying it out, plus it was super easy!
Ingredients:
6 or more baby courgettes with the blossoms attached
3 tbsp goats cheese
1/3 small red onion, finely chopped
1/2 handful pine nuts
For the batter:
1/2 cup plain flour (I used wholemeal)
1 cup fizzy water
Salt and pepper, to taste
Oil, for shallow frying
To serve:
Tomatoes
Olives
Spinach
Balsamic Vinegar
- Mix the cheese, nuts and onion together
- Very carefully open up the flower and remove the stamen, then place a small ball of the cheese mixture into the middle and twist the tops to seal off.
- To make the batter gradually add the fizzy water the seasoned flour and whisk until smooth, it should be the consistency of single cream.
- Heat a shallow pan with a thin layer of oil until it is really hot (you can test with a drop of the batter, it will not crisp up if it's not hot enough)
- Dip the flowers and courgettes into the mixture and fry for about 60 seconds each side, until golden but never blackened or burnt
- If looking for extra crunch, once fried you can re-dip them and fry again until crisp. Place on kitchen towel to soak up excess oil.
- If you have excess batter left over then you can try slicing up tomatoes, dipping and frying until crisp, which are very tasty!
- Serve up with a fresh salad and drizzle with balsamic vinegar.
- Enjoy! Cassidy xx
