Cook and Drink

Such a pleasure to see courgette flowers in your garden or at the greengrocers. The young courgette is firm and tasty; the flowers a beautiful yellow. Simply stuff the flowers, fry in a pan or cook in the oven and you have a great side dish or starter. And then you start wondering: ‘Stuff with what? Cheese? Salmon? Tomatoes? Egg? And how to make a filling that remains inside the flower and isn’t too firm?‘.
We prefer a simple approach: stuff the flowers with a perfect combination: courgette, thyme, shallot, garlic and Parmesan cheese. Firm, tasty and all about zucchini. Enjoy as a starter or combine the stuffed flowers with grilled lamb or chicken.

What You Need

• Small Courgettes with their flower
• One Courgette (small and firm; you need 1 small courgette to stuff 4 flowers)
• One Shallot
• One Garlic Clove
• Olive Oil
• Parmesan Cheese
• Thyme or Herbes de Provence
• Black Pepper

What You Do

1. Remove the stamens from the flowers
2. Peel the additional courgette, slice the shallot and the garlic very thinly
3. Warm a heavy iron pan and gently glaze the shallot
4. After a few minutes add the garlic
5. Remove the seeds from the courgette and grate coarsely
6. When the shallot and the garlic are sufficiently glazed, add the grated courgette and the thyme or Herbes de Provence
7. Mix and warm for 15-20 minutes, making sure the liquid evaporates.
8. ry to keep the structure of the coarsely grated courgette
9. Add finely grated Parmesan cheese, mix and taste
10. Adjust with cheese, black pepper and thyme or Herbes de Provence
11. Set aside and let cool.
12. Heat your oven to 180° Celsius or 360° Fahrenheit
13. Stuff the flowers, close them and sprinkle with olive oil
14. Transfer to the oven and cook for 15 – 20 minutes
15. Depending on your oven you may need to use ‘traditional’ or a combination with a small broiler. You want the flowers to become crisp
16. Allow them to cool for a few minutes before serving.

PS

In case the grated courgette looses its structure and the mixture becomes too dense, then beat an egg white until very firm and gently spoon this through the cold mixture before stuffing the flowers.