Stuffed Squash Blossoms with Courgettes, Herbs & Cheese

There's a lot to love about summer - sunshine, warmth, sandals and shorts, but most of all, the produce.  All the best stuff comes in the summer and right now in the UK you've got'em berries, cherries, lettuce and cucumbers.  In Italy it's currently the season for squash blossoms.

My sister loves her squash blossoms.  They're gorgeous, aren't they?  They're very delicate as well - I may have overstuffed them so the filling was overpowering.  Just one tbsp of the filling should suffice.

This is a recipe from an Italian magazine, Sale e Pepe.  They're quite cheesy and rich but very yummy.  You may consider shredding the courgettes instead of dicing them, or you may even consider frying everything so that it's all cooked before stuffing them.  You may experiment with the mixture of cheeses and herbs and well just go crazy with this.  Oh and lemon zest would do nicely here.

I have to say though, maybe I'm just homesick, as much as I love Italian summer produce, I miss those beautiful Scottish berries *sigh*

Recipe adapted from Sale e Pepe
Serves 8 as a side
Ingredients
20 squash blossom
4 medium courgettes
60g cream cheese
20g goat cheese
40g parmesan, grated
a large handful of mixed herbs (I used basil, sage and thyme)
2 eggs
1 medium potato

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C.

Put the potato in cold water and boil until tender.

Dice the courgette and put in a large bowl.  Finely chop the herbs and add that into the bowl along with the cheeses.  Crumble the cheeses and mix everything together.  Mash the potato and add that in as well along with the eggs. Season to taste. 

Gently rinse the squash blossoms and carefully stuff in about 1 tbsp of the mixture.  Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper, drizzle with olive oil and bake for about 20 minutes.