cooking

Stuffed Courgette Flowers

This is a tricky recipe because the flowers are very delicate and you must be very careful not to damage them.
You have to choose very fresh baby courgettes. Wash the courgettes and flowers in cold water and carefully dry them with kitchen roll. There is a debate about removing the pistils inside the flowers or not: personally I remove them because this allows more space for the stuffing.
Dice the baby courgettes leaving about 2cm on the flowers. You can leave the whole baby courgette with the flower but in this case you need to cook everything a little longer in the oven (unles you like your courgettes al dente.
Prepare your stuffing. I make a sausage meat stuffing and add the diced courgettes but you can use your imagination here (blue cheese and hazelnuts is quite a good one). Bind your cooked stuffing with an egg and add lots of fresh basil.
Delicately stuff the flowers and lay them on an oven dish. Add a couple of diced tomatoes to the remaining stuffing and surround the flowers with the mixture. Sprinkle parmesan cheese on top, cover with tin foil, and cook in the oven at 180 degrees for 20 minutes.