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| Before being baked in the oven |
As I have several courgette plants growing in our garden, I can harvest fresh courgettes and their flowers almost every day. Tonight, I used them to make courgette flowers stuffed with pork and anchovies. I turned the remaining filling into meatballs and served them in a simple Italian tomato sauce.
Serves 4–6
Ingredients
- 10 fresh courgette flowers and several detached baby courgettes
- 800 g minced pork
- 8 anchovy fillets, finely chopped
- 100 g Parmigiano Reggiano, grated
- 2 tbsp breadcrumbs
- 2 eggs
- A little water
- Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 4–6 Mediterranean mint leaves, finely chopped
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Prepare the courgette flowers. Trim the stems, then carefully open the petals and remove the stamens. Gently rinse the flowers or wipe away any dirt, taking care not to tear the delicate petals. If any small courgettes are still attached, detach them.
Place the minced pork in a bowl. Add the chopped anchovy fillets, grated Parmigiano Reggiano, breadcrumbs and eggs. Season lightly with salt, as the anchovies and Parmigiano Reggiano are already salty, and generously with black pepper.
Mix thoroughly, adding a small splash of water if necessary to make the filling soft and easy to spoon into the flowers.
Carefully fill each flower with the pork mixture. Do not overfill them. Gently twist or fold the tips of the petals over the filling.
Lightly oil an ovenproof dish. Arrange the stuffed flowers in a single layer and place the detached baby courgettes between them. Sprinkle with the finely chopped mint leaves and drizzle with EVOO. Season with black pepper and just a pinch of salt, bearing in mind that the filling contains salty anchovies and Parmigiano Reggiano.
Bake at 180°C until the pork is completely cooked through and the courgettes are tender, approximately 30–40 minutes. The precise cooking time will depend on the size of the flowers and the amount of filling used.
Allow the stuffed flowers to rest for a few minutes before serving.
Note: Eight hundred grammes of pork is likely to make more filling than is needed for ten flowers, unless the flowers are particularly large. Any remaining mixture can be shaped into meatballs and baked separately alongside the dish of stuffed flowers.
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| Baked stuffed courgette flowers and baby courgettes |
Meatballs in basic tomato sauce
Use the remaining pork and anchovy mixture to make meatballs.
Shape the mixture into small meatballs and place them in an ovenproof dish. Drizzle with a little EVOO and add herbs of your choice. I added quartered shallots and fresh thyme for extra flavour. Place the dish in the oven alongside the courgette flowers.
While everything is baking, prepare a basic Italian tomato sauce for the meatballs.
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped, optional
- 700 to 800 grammes bottled passata di pomodoro
- 1 tbsp capers, optional
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- A few fresh basil leaves or a pinch of dried oregano
- Parmigiano Reggiano shavings
Heat the olive oil in a saucepan. Add the onion and cook gently for 5–7 minutes, until soft and translucent.
If using garlic, add it and cook for another minute.
Stir in the passata di pomodoro. Season lightly with salt, bearing in mind that the meatballs contain anchovies and that the capers, if used, will also add saltiness. Add freshly ground black pepper.
If using capers, add them to the sauce. Add the basil or oregano and simmer gently for 10 minutes.
Transfer the browned meatballs to an ovenproof dish. Pour over the tomato sauce and scatter some Parmigiano Reggiano shavings on top. Cook in the oven at 180°C for approximately 10 minutes.
Serve immediately with crusty bread, or enjoy the meatballs cold in sandwiches the following day.
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| Baked meatballs with shallots and thyme |
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| As if there were any chance of leftovers lasting until the following day! Our 19- and 18-year-old sons ate the entire dish with crusty bread. Now I have to work out what to cook for tomorrow’s lunch, with all of us at home on summer leave. |