Stuffed courgette blossoms

6 servings Prep: 20 mins, Cooking: 1 hr
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Pretty blossoms that makes a gorgeous meal.

By Food24 March 01 2011
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Ingredients (26)

Batter:
250 ml soda water
3/4 cup flour — self-raising
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
Filling for the courgette blossoms:
3/4 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup parmesan cheese — grated
1 tsp lemon — zest only
1 eggs — yolk only
1 garlic — cloves, crushed
1 tsp dried chilli flakes
salt and freshly ground back pepper — to taste
Pasta sauce:
250 ml cream
1 butter
1/2 red onion — cut into half-moons
5 courgettes — chopped
2 garlic — cloves, chopped
1/2 cup stock — chicken
lemon — halved, juice only
2 tsp lemon — zest only
1/2 cup peas — frozen petit pois
2 tsp pine nuts — roasted
fresh basil — handful
parma ham
salt and freshly ground back pepper — to taste
parmesan cheese — to serve
1/2 tagliatelle — packet
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Method:

Prepare the courgette blossoms for stuffing:

Keep the blossoms attached to the courgettes and rinse the flowers
under a tap. Make sure you rinse inside the flowers. After rinsing the
flowers, remove their stamens. The stamens should come out easily by
simply picking them out of the blossoms. Once all the stamens are
removed, carefully split the courgettes that are attached to the
blossoms half way up into four strips making sure they still remain
attached to the blossoms. This is a little tricky, so take your time and
use a very sharp pairing knife. If some of the blossoms break off their
courgettes don’t discard them as they can still be stuffed or even just
deep-fried as they are. Once the courgettes and their blossoms are
prepared begin to stuff them.

To stuff the courgette blossoms, take some of the ricotta filling and
roll it into a small ball roughly the size of a litchi, or a large
cherry. Carefully open a courgette blossom and insert the ricotta ball.
To close the blossom twist the ends of the blossom together. Continue
until all the courgette blossoms have been stuffed. If you want you can
leave some blossoms un-stuffed – the blossoms are still very delicious
simply battered and deep-fried.

Prepare the batter: (the batter can be made 20-30mins before frying)

Place the flour into a medium-sized bowl, add salt and pepper and
pour in the soda water and whisk till the mixture is smooth. The
mixture should be the same consistency as pancake batter. If it is too
thin add more flour and if it is too thick add more soda water.

Pasta:

In a large pasta pot place a tablespoon of salt and fill with water
and bring to the boil. Add the tagliatelle. Stir the pasta every now and
then to make sure the pasta does not stick. Cook for 10-15 minutes or
until al dente . Drain and add half a tablespoon of olive oil to the
pasta to ensure the pasta does not stick.

For the sauce:

While the pasta is cooking, begin to cook your onions. In a large,
heavy-based pan place the butter, olive oil and onions. Fry on a a
medium to low heat for 5 minutes, then add the chopped garlic and
chopped courgettes. Fry on a medium heat for 5 minutes. Add the chicken
or vegetable stock and cook on a high heat for 3 minutes. Add the
cream, lemon juice and lemon zest. Taste, and add salt and pepper. Cook
on a high heat for 5 minutes. Lower the heat to a simmer and add the
frozen peas, roasted pine nuts and torn basil leaves. Stir, taste and
add salt and pepper if needed. Keep the sauce on a very gentle heat and
begin to deep-fry your courgette blossoms.

Deep-fry the courgette blossoms:

While the pasta sauce is cooking. In a deep pot, place enough canola
oil (or vegetable oil) to reach above half way and begin to heat the oil
on a high heat. While the oil is heating, dip your courgette blossoms
into the per-prepaired batter. Check the oil is hotter enough by
dropping a small bit of batter into the oil – if it sizzles and browns
quickly the oil is ready. Fry 3 to 4 courgette blossoms at a time. Make
sure to place the deep-fried courgette blossoms on some Carlton Towel
to drain off the excess oil.

Assemble the dish:

Pour the sauce over the cooked pasta. Garnish with the deep-fried
courgette blossoms, pieces of Parma ham, more basil leaves and a
generous sprinkling of Parmesan cheese and a few roasted pine nuts and
some more lemon zest (if you have some extra lying around).

Reprinted
with permission of Foodmonger.

To
visit Foodmonger’s blog, click here.

 



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