Crispy courgette flowers with parmigiano, chilli, lemon and ricotta

Tam West

I love this dish. As a family, we always pick the courgette flowers from the garden, dust them down and start cooking them until crispy. The kids grate the Parmigiano and they’re gone in moments — then we head back out to pick some more for another round. This is a very quick dish to cook and serve, so ensure you have all your ingredients ready to go.

Ingredients

500 ml	Rice bran oil
6	Courgette flowers (Main)
½ cup	Potato starch
1 handful	Parmigiano cheese, grated (Main)
200 g	Ricotta cheese (Main)
2	Red chillies, sliced thinly
2	Lemons, zested
1 dash	Extra virgin olive oil
1 pinch	Cracked black pepper
1 small handful	Mint, sprigs, to serve
1 small handful	Coriander sprigs, to serve
1 small handful	Vietnamese mint leaves, to serve

Directions

1. Place a medium pot on the stove and add the oil, bring up to heat — just under smoking point.
2. Halve the courgette flowers and remove the stamen from each flower.
3. Carefully open out flat, ready to dust and shallow fry. Lightly dust the flowers with the potato starch.
4. Place dusted flowers into the pot and cook until crispy — this will take about 1 ½ minutes, it's quick!
5. Have a fine grater ready for the parmigiano, this is going to give the dish an umami boost of flavour.
6. Spoon about 5 dollops of ricotta around a large serving plate. Add the crispy courgette flowers, sprinkle the chilli and lemon zest across the top, grate the parmigiano a little wildly all over. Add a healthy drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a few good cracks of fresh black pepper.
7. Finish with the fresh sprigs of herbs and build it very organically — as if looking into a wild garden. Serve immediately.

This recipe was created by Nic Watt as a starter in a three-course spring meal, followed by a main of

hot pepper lamb rack

and

buttermilk fromage blanc

for dessert.