Stuffed Courgette Flowers with Romesco Sauce
Courgette flowers are attractive and have a lovely fresh, floral taste. Our polytunnel is stuffed to bursting with the large leafy plants but they are also now available in good greengrocers for most of the year. This recipe introduces an unusual technique for cooking the baby courgettes without separating them or spoiling the flowers. The flowers can then be filled with all sorts of delicious stuffings, ranging from a fish mousse to a cooked lentil mix or, in this case, artichoke hearts with goat's cheese. Romesco is a lovely wholesome Mediterranean salsa with centuries of tradition - a marvellous larder staple that can be used straight from the fridge to enhance any dish that needs a little zest.
Ingredients Serves 6
For the Romesco sauce, makes approximately 250ml
1 Red Pepper
2 Tomatoes
120ml Olive Oil
1 Garlic Clove
1 tsbp Tomato Purée
75g blanched Almonds, roasted
1 tsp Sweet Paprika
1 tsp Smoked Paprika
2 tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
Salt and Black Pepper
Equipment: Pestle & Mortar
For the Stuffed Courgette Flowers
6 Courgette Flowers, attached to baby courgettes
40g Butter
40g Plain Flour
400ml Milk
60g Goat's Cheese
240g Artichoke Hearts, diced
60g Sultanas
60g Pine Nuts
1 Head Red Chicory, with 6 trimmed leaves
100ml Romesco Sauce
Salt and Black Pepper
Chives, finely chopped, to garnish
Method
For the Romesco sauce
Put the red pepper and tomatoes with a little of the olive oil into a small roasting tin and cook in a preheated oven at 180°C / Gas Mark 6 for 12 minutes.
Using a small knife, peel off the skins, deseed and roughly chop.
Place the peppers, tomatoes and cooking juices into a mortar.
Add the garlic, tomato purée, roasted almonds and paprikas. Use the pestle to pound to a textured taste.
Add the rest of the olive oil and the red wine vinegar. Season to taste with the salt and pepper.
Transfer to an airtight glass jar and store in the fridge for up to 1 month.
For the Stuffed Courgette Flowers
Prepare a bowl of iced water.
Fill a small pan almost to the top with water, cover with clingfilm and bring to the boil. Poke six holes in the clingfilm and and post the courgettes through the clngfilm so that the baby courgette stalks are immersed in water with the flower heads sitting above.
Cook for 2-3 minutes, then remove gently from the pan and plunge the hot cooked part into the iced water to refresh. Now you have blanched courgettes and raw flowers.
Prepare a simple white sauce - melt the butter in a medium-sized heavy-based pan over a moderate heat, stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Stir in the milk a little at a time, add the cheese, season well with salt and pepper and cook until smooth.
Remove from the heat and stir in the artichokes, sultanas and pine nuts. Allow to cool.
Carefully fold back the petals of the courgette flowers, place a large spoon of the artichoke mixture inside and rearrange the petals to close.
Place the stuffed courgettes on a serving platter, add the chicory leaves in between and fill these with the Romesco sauce, topped with the chives.
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