Twice a week at the crack of dawn Leopoldo, the local farmer) scales the hill up to Lotti and leaves us an offering from his garden. This will invariably involve a delicious supply of baby courgettes with their flowers still on, succulent,sun-ripened tomatoes and inedibly sour grapes!We (brother Arthur included here) are often looking for new ways to use these courgettes - we also grow them in Sussex - and this recipe is useful in using both flowers and vegetable.
If you don’t grow them, they can be bought at
farmers markets like the one at the end of our road in Parliament Hill. My only
warning is that courgette flowers die pretty quickly after being plucked so use
them the day you buy them or the day after and whatever you do, don’t refrigerate
them – they just wilt – and don't eat the stamen, its a disgusting mouth full of pollen!
Ingredients
Preparation time: 25 minutes
Serves 4
Courgette Flower Fritters:
120g courgette flowers
A handful of basil
45g Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, freshly
grated on a rough setting
1 white
45g flour
1tbspn extra virgin olive oil
15ml water
Freshly ground black
pepper to taste
Sunflower oil for deep-frying
Pasta:
400g pasta – penne or farfalle are good
80ml extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
30g red chillies, finely chopped
4 medium courgettes, coarsely grated
40g Parmigiano Reggiano, freshly grated
To make 12-16 fritters
First,
remove the stamen from the flowers with scissors. Discard the stem
Next
snip your courgette flowers into rough little strips into a bowl.
Snip
your basil up roughly too and add to the bowl
Add
the roughly grated parmesan and a good sprinkling of black pepper
Now
make a batter by mixing the water slowly into the flower until it forms a paste
Whisk
your egg white until it is white and foamy and fold into the flour paste
Add
5 tablespoons of batter to the mix, or enough that it will form balls without
being too wet
Form
12-16 balls from the mix
Heat
the oil in a deep pan so that it is at least 1 ½ inches high
Get
it hot to the point where a small piece of bread will instantly start bubbling
away and turn golden in 30 seconds
Gently
drop the balls into the oil, wearing rubber gloves in case any oil spits
Cook
for 2-3 minutes until they just begin to turn golden
Remove
and drain on kitchen roll to remove any excess oil
To make the pasta and sauce:
400g pasta
In salted water, boil the pasta of your choice
until it’s al dente, 10-15 minutes if using dried pasta, less for
fresh or egg pasta. Drain.
In a pan, melt the butter and heat the garlic
and chillies. Don’t let them colour as this makes the garlic turn bitter
Add the grated courgettes and fry for a minute
or two. Add the cooked pasta and season with salt and pepper.
Serve with the fritters neatly dotted around
and a sprinkle of parmesan
