This week has been a mad dash. I have been asked to exhibit my iPad illustrations at the Staithes Arts Festival this weekend. How did that happen? I started drawing a year ago when I bought my iPad and it has really taken off. I have even sold some of the drawings to Rob Green, Yorkshire's great seafood chef to illustrate his menus.
I am also working on a story for the Yorkshire Post Magazine on the 'Making of a modern fisherman' which takes a look at how fishermen (and women) are trained today. The York Food Festival is also coming up with chef Rob Porter from Scarborough threatening to make mozzarella balloons using a microwave and using an antigriddle - yes that's right - an antigriddle to fast freeze fruit foams into cold biscuits.I am writing this up too.
I had great intentions of making a beautiful courgette, lemon and pumpkin seed cake with the stunning striped green courgettes my garden is producing at the moment. I thought of topping it with a frosted courgette flower languishing lazily, but I have failed. I might be able to do it next week if the frost holds off.
Instead we have lightening quick courgette flower tempura. I prefer this simple version to anything stuffed. It is crisp tasty and shows of the interesting textures of the cooked courgette flower perfectly. The stigma and style of both the male and female flower is thick, tender and it steams inside the flower as the batter forms a crisp casing. This is a lovely piece of food to bite into. I then dust with a little Parmesan cheese and serve hot. The crisp flowers are also lovely with a little chilli sauce.
To make
Serves 1 - scale up for more people
Ingredients
- 2 small courgette flowers
- 2 tbsp Green Dragon, ready to make tempura batter
- 2 tbsp water
- Vegetable oil for frying, I used rapeseed
- 20g Parmesan cheese, grated
- or chilli sauce for serving
Method
Check the courgette flowers for insects and any other debris. Mix the dry tempura batter with water in a small wide bowl. Do not attempt to get rid of all of the lumps as these make the batter crisp. Dip the courgette flowers in the batter; they just need a light coating.
Fill a wide shallow frying pan with 3cm oil and heat until a cube of bread fries in 10 seconds. Do not allow the oil to smoke. Place the battered courgette flowers in the oil and fry for approximately one minute per side. Turn the flowers with tongs.When the flowers are crisp, remove from the pan and drain on kitchen paper. Serve hot dusted with a little grated Parmesan cheese or chilli sauce.