Ricotta Stuffed Zucchini Flowers

I'm a sucker for Zucchini flowers.. If they are on the menu, I would order them. No questions asked. Making them however, is a totally different story. Its always been a bit of a mess. The batter goes everywhere. Ricotta stuffing drips out. Or the batter would either be too thick or too thin... blah ~!

I think though.. I may have finely got it right this time. The difference is draining the ricotta cheese beforehand. By doing this, the cheese has more form and makes it easier when transferring from the batter mix into the deep fryer. Also, coating the stuffed zucchini flowers in a thin layer of cornflour before dipping it into the batter mix, helped to keep the batter coating on. The batter mixture itself had to pass the chopstick test. By that I mean, dipping the ends of a chopstick into the mixture, and when you pull out the chopstick, there should be a coating of batter around the ends that doesn't all drip off.

Ricotta Stuffed Zucchini Flowers

• 6 zucchini flowers
• 1/2 cup of ricotta cheese (drained)
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup of freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
• 1 clove of garlic (minced)
• 5 fresh sweet basil leaves (finely chopped)
• 1 Anchovy fillet (minced)
• Couple of grinds of fresh Pepper
• 1 small chilli (finely chopped) - Optional

For the Batter & Frying

• Enough vegetable or canola oil for deep frying
• Enough Cornflour for coating the stuffed flowers
• 2/3 cup all-purposed flour
• Teaspoon of Bi-Carbonate of Soda
• 1/2 cup of icy cold water

For serving

• Sprinkle of sea salt flakes
• Lemon Wedges

Method

1. In a large bowl, mix together the drained ricotta, egg, garlic, basil, cheese, anchovy fillet and fresh pepper. Once the mixure is combined, using a sandwich bag, spoon the ricotta mixture into the bag and set this aside.
2. Clean each flower by patting it with a damp cloth. Gently spread open the petals of each flower and carefully pinch out the filaments inside.
3. Using a pair of sissors, snip off one of the corners of the sandwich bag so that it turns into a pipping bag.
4. With one hand holding the flower and opening flower petal, and the other with the pipping bag, fill up the zucchini flower with the ricotta mixture. You should be able to use the ends of the petal and give it a slight twist to keep the ricotta mixture in place. Lay these down onto a flat tray or plate. Repeat until all the zucchini flowers have been stuffed with the ricotta mixture.
5. Sprinkle a thin layer of corn flour over the zucchini flowers. Turn each flower and make sure they are evenly covered.
6. Heat about 1 1/2 inches of oil in a deep saucepan over medium-high heat until its hot enough to start frying.
7. Mix together the remaining ingredients for the batter mix. Add more water if the batter is too thick. Or more flour if it is too thin.
8. Once the oil is ready, taking one flower at a time... dip the flower into the batter, turning to coat completely. Lift out and let the excess drip off. Gently slip the battered flowers into the hot oil and fry until golden brown on all sides. This should take about 4 minutes. Using tongs or a slotted spoon, transfer the blossoms to paper towels to drain off any excess oil.
9. Season with some sea salt flakes and serve immediately with some wedges of lemon.
   

Tips:

• You can test this with a piece a small piece of bread. Or simply dip in the ends of a chopstick, and if it starts to bubble around the chopstick, then the oil is ready. It should not be smoking hot. If it is, the food will burn too quickly, turn the heat off to cool the oil until its no longer smoking.