French Zucchini Blossom Fritters with Goat Cheese and Peak-Harvest Herbs

Handle the blossoms like tissue paper. Open each one gently, pinch out the stamen or pistil inside, and shake out any visitors rather than washing them — water makes them collapse.

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 18 fresh zucchini or squash blossoms, stamens removed
• 6 oz (170 g) soft fresh goat cheese
• 2 tbsp chopped chives
• 1 tbsp chopped tarragon
• 1 tbsp chopped flat-leaf parsley
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cold sparkling water, plus more as needed
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 tsp fine salt, plus flaky salt to finish
• Neutral oil, for shallow frying
• Lemon wedges, to serve

Instructions

1. Handle the blossoms like tissue paper. Open each one gently, pinch out the stamen or pistil inside, and shake out any visitors rather than washing them — water makes them collapse.
2. Mash the goat cheese with the chives, tarragon, parsley, lemon zest and a good grind of pepper until soft enough to pipe.
3. Spoon or pipe about a tablespoon of the cheese into each blossom, then twist the petal tips closed to seal. Chill the filled blossoms for 20 minutes so the cheese firms up.
4. Whisk the flour, egg yolk, salt and cold sparkling water into a batter about the thickness of heavy cream. Lumps are fine; overmixing is not.
5. Heat an inch of oil in a heavy skillet to 340°F (170°C). A drop of batter should sizzle and rise immediately without browning in seconds.
6. Dip each blossom in the batter, let the excess run off, and lay it away from you into the oil. Fry three or four at a time so the temperature holds.
7. Turn once after about 90 seconds and cook another minute, until pale gold and blistered. Any darker and the delicate flower flavor is lost under the crust.
8. Drain briefly on a rack, sprinkle with flaky salt, and serve immediately with lemon wedges — they wait for nobody.
9. Beignets de fleurs de courgette belong to the whole northern Mediterranean, claimed with equal conviction by Nice, Liguria and Provence, and they exist because gardeners plant more zucchini than any household can survive. Picking the male blossoms — the ones on slender stems, which never become fruit — thins the plant without costing you a single squash, so this is one of the rare appetizers that improves your garden while feeding your guests. Buy them at the farmers market in the morning and cook them the same day; by tomorrow they will have folded in on themselves.

Nutrition (estimated, per serving)

• Calories: 260 kcal
• Protein: 9g
• Fat: 17g
• Carbohydrates: 18g
• Fiber: 1g
• Sugar: 2g
• Sodium: 340mg