My kitchen garden is an explosion right now and the bad-boy is without doubt the courgette – these guys just run riot. But as wild as they are the ill-mannered courgette plant has a pretty soft side – an incredible yellow flower that has a very, very short shelf life.

These are fantastic to work with because they demand your full attention…and in truth they can be a pain in the arse! But if you have stuffed courgette flowers as much as me you get used to it and the pay off is, frankly friggin’ stunning! They are crispy and light and when you bite into them your are rewarded with and oozy, cheesy and mushroomy stuffing……..pretty heady stuff!

It might be difficult to get your mits on these flowers so if you have a relationship with a green grocer then ask them – they should sort you out.

WHAT YOU NEED – serves 2 as a lite bite or starter

4 fresh courgette flowers (straight from the garden)

100 grms goats cheese

50 grams ricotta

50 grams dried porcini mushrooms

Salt flakes and cracked black pepper

100 grams plain flour

125 mls full fat milk

2 tps salt

1 tps turmeric

Veg oil for frying

HOW YOU DO IT

Step1: Pour boiling water over the Porcini mushrooms and leave to one side

Step2: In a large bowl combine flour, milk, salt and turmeric and mix to a batter

Step3: Remove the porcini from the water and roughly chop then combine with the cheeses

Step4: Brush the courgette flowers to remove any garden ‘travelers’

Step5: Gently spoon the mushroom and cheese stuffing into the flowers, they may rip a little – don’t worry the stuffing will be thick enough to stay together

Step6: Dust the stuffed flowers with some flour and dunk into the batter

Step7: Shallow fry the stuffed flowers 2 at a time and serve with shaved Parmesan

 

FEEL LIKE A BEER? TRY THIS:

5 lAMPS