Stuffed Zucchini Flowers
Another dish I almost always order if I see it on a menu at a restaurant. I can’t resist! One of my favourite antipasto – especially when the balance is just right; a tender zucchini, a bright but creamy filling and most importantly, a light batter that doesn’t detract from the main event.
When I think of some of my earlier memories of eating zucchini flowers, I instantly think of being in Rome – specifically enjoying them on pizza bianca with mozzarella and anchovies. This memory directly translates to the filling I make for these – ripping up excellent quality mozzarella and mixing through ricotta, it results in a lovely melty inside once cooked. You can add an anchovy to each blossom but I haven’t included that in the recipe below – mostly because I’ve been on a bit of an anchovy train lately and I’m sure some of you are sick of it – but it would be a nice and punchy, salty addition!
I find zucchini flowers a little difficult to find where I am so it’s a bit of a special dish in the sense that I don’t get to make these at home often. Perfect as a simple starter, sharing dish or even just to enjoy with a glass of wine in the late afternoon sun.
Stuffed Zucchini Flowers
Ingredients
- 8 small zucchini with their flowers attached usually found at a farmer’s market, but I also found some recently at Harris Farm Market for those in Australia.
For the filling
- 150 g ricotta
- 1 ball of mozzarella roughly 100g
- Zest of half a lemon
- For the batter
- 3/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup corn starch
- 1/4 tsp bicarb of soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup soda water
- Vegetable oil for deep frying
Instructions
- Combine all of the filling ingredients and season generously with salt and pepper.
- Place the mixture into a piping bag and set aside.
- Prepare the zucchini by washing them gently in a bowl of cold water. Pat dry.
- Remove the pistil/stamen from inside the blossom and discard (these are technically edible but I prefer to remove them).
- Fill each blossom with some of the ricotta mixture until full but not enough to start seeping out. Gently twist the top of the blossom to seal.
- To make the batter combine all of the dry ingredients then whisk in the soda water until smooth – it should be quite loose in consistency and not thick and gloopy at all.
- Pour the vegetable oil into your preferred pan (I use a sauté pan that’s quite deep and fill about half way – enough so the zucchini will be submerged), and place over a low-medium heat. Once the oil reaches 325f you’re ready to go.
- One at a time dip the zucchini in the batter then carefully place into the hot oil – dropping it in away from you. Batch cook only a few at a time so as not to overcrowd the pan.
- Cook the zucchini for a few (around 4-5) minutes, rotating them carefully in the oil occasionally so they cook evenly.
- Once lightly golden, remove from the oil and place onto some kitchen paper – sprinkle with salt.
- Repeat the process with the remaining zucchini.
- Serve with a lemon wedge – squeeze over before devouring.
