“The most important thing when cooking vegetables is to choose those that are in peak season,” says GT food director Lisa Featherby. “Here, we’ve filled zucchini flowers with a lemony roasted walnut and zucchini mixture and served them with a summery basil sauce. This is a great entrée for a dinner party.”
Ingredients
Walnut and zucchini filling
Basil sauce
Batter
Method
1.For walnut and zucchini filing, process zucchini and garlic in a food processor until smooth. Season to taste with lemon juice and salt, then stir through walnuts.
2.Gently open zucchini flowers and place a heaped teaspoon of filling in each. Gently twist tops of petals together to close. Refrigerate until required.
3.For basil sauce, blanch basil and spinach in boiling water until bright green (10-20 seconds). Drain, refresh in iced water, then gently squeeze out excess liquid. Press in a clean tea towel to remove any moisture, then transfer to a jug with remaining ingredients and blend with a hand-held blender until smooth. Season to taste and refrigerate until required. If desired, strain the sauce for a lighter, cleaner finish.
4.Heat oil in a saucepan to 170°C. For batter, whisk flours in a bowl to combine, then add enough chilled water to form a thin batter and whisk until smooth (you want the batter
to barely coat the zucchini). Dip prepared flowers into batter, gently shaking off excess, then deep-fry, in batches, until golden and crisp (5 minutes). Drain on paper towel and season to taste with salt flakes.
5.To serve, spoon some of the basil sauce onto plates, top with zucchini flowers and sliced zucchini, then drizzle over a little more sauce. Garnish with green and purple basil.
If using male flowers, you may also want to add extra thinly sliced baby or small zucchini. Make sure to remove stamens from the zucchini flowers.
Notes
