How to Cook Courgette Flowers
Stuffed and Fried Courgette Flowers
This is a particularly good time of year for those of us who favour Italian cookery, summer squashes are in abundance and with them come the delicious flowers.
It’s worth growing a courgette plant yourself just so that you can obtain a handful of flowers to try for yourself. Finding courgettes with their flowers still attached is near impossible in your local supermarket or greengrocer and this is a real shame.
I only cook them at home when I have enough to make a worthwhile lunch or supper, I make sure everything is ready before I cut them because once I have washed them I like to eat them straight away.
First of all make your frying batter, I always like to leave batter to stand for an hour or so in the fridge until I need it.
Courgette Batter Recipe:
100g/31/2oz Plain Flour
2 tbsp Olive Oil
1 egg Seperated
5 tbsp Dry White Wine
150-200ml/5-7fl oz Warm Water
Salt and Pepper
In a large bowl mix together the egg yolk, olive oil, flour and wine, season well. Add the water until you have a smooth, runny batter mix. Leave to stand for at least thirty minutes. Whisk the egg white in a seperate bowl and carefully fold into the batter mix.
Gently open the flowers and remove the pistil from inside, wash the flowers carefully in cold water and pat dry on kitchen paper
Have a pan of hot vegetable oil ready, make sure it is large enough to safely cook the fritters. Dip the flowers into the batter, shake off any excess and gently lower them into the hot oil. Cook until golden, remove with a slotted spoon, drain on kitchen paper and serve.
You could stuff the flowers with cheese such as mozzarella, feta or ricotta and flavour it with some fresh basil, pine nuts and lemon zest for an extra dimension, just make sure the oil is clean and you serve them straight away.
Miles,
Now that looks simple enough and totally delicious. I have to admit though that this year I’ve forgotten to get a courgette plant among all the excitement of kale, pak choi and butternut squash, perhaps it’s not too late.
Cid
July 6, 2008 @ 8:56 am
Cid,
I have still seen the odd plant in garden centres, if you are quick you might get away with sowing your own, though not in this weather
Miles
July 6, 2008 @ 9:03 am
Miles
fantastic tip and a great recipe.
I have a couple of flowers on my own home-grown courgettes
Rod
July 6, 2008 @ 11:18 am
Rod,
Give it a go, you can always use the batter to fry slices of the courgette in as for a vegetable tempura.
Miles
July 6, 2008 @ 1:35 pm
My daughter-in-law told me yesterday about deep-fried courgette flowers. Wasn’t aware until now that you can eat them! We have lots of plants in the garden, so will try your recipe. We love courgettes cut into mini-chips, coated in seasoned flour and lightly deep-fried.
July 25, 2008 @ 12:05 pm
Sarah,
Welcome to the site and thankyou for taking the time to comment. You’re not alone in not knowing about the eating qualities of courgette flowers, it has always been a more common practice in France and Italy. Give it a go though, it’s a shame not to use them when you have grown them yourself.
Hope you enjoy them.
Kind regards
Miles
July 25, 2008 @ 2:53 pm
i have flowers on the plants now. I will cook them tomorrow night and slice the courgettes cook with mushrooms and garlic as a starter.
July 3, 2009 @ 7:54 pm
Steve,
Welcome to the site and thanks for taking the time to comment. Your starter sounds great and will make a really interesting meal. It’s well worth making the most of the flowers whilst you can. Hope it goes well.
Miles
July 3, 2009 @ 11:03 pm
I had these in Italy and they are lovely stuffed with soft cheese and then fried very quickly . I can never get them over here though.
Also I grate 2ozs courgettes and add to wholemeal bread dough . Just add a bit more flour to compensate for the water content. They give a fabulous taste to home made bread.
September 6, 2011 @ 3:51 pm
Veronica,
Welcome to the site, they are lovely and you are right-very tricky to get hold of in England. The bread sounds lovely, what a nice idea.
Hope you return again Veronica,
Kind regards
Miles
September 6, 2011 @ 8:04 pm
Regarding having some grated courgettes in the bread , it is a brilliant way to get veg into youngsters .and teens . Mine did nt know they were eating veg !! Just have to watch the water content, although , mine still ate it even if it sank slightly !!!
September 9, 2011 @ 4:30 pm
Veronica,
Very crafty!! Well, why not? I did wonder about the water content but obviously it’s worked-care to share the recipe?
Miles
September 10, 2011 @ 12:27 pm
Veronica,
Many thanks for the recipe, I shall be posting it tomorrow as a seperate post so everyone will see it.
Kind regards
Miles
September 11, 2011 @ 8:41 pm