Courgette flowers with halloumi

It's not too bad being back home from holiday as I have some French produce here and the weather is also quite agreeable. I got these lovely courgette flowers in Les Halles in Avignon (plus one from my own balcony), where I did some vegetable shopping. Courgette flowers are a beautiful ingredient and they can sometimes be obtained in the UK farmers' markets, but it's more a rarity here. However in France they are quite easy to get, so of course I couldn't resist and brought these home with me without knowing what to cook with them yet. I ended up combining them with one of my favourite cheeses, halloumi, as it doesn't melt when fried, and serving some of those lovely Provençal tomatoes on the side as well. I recently ordered a large bag of organic couscous from a local food co-op that I now need to use up (I will probably post a bit more couscous recipes in the future...). So that's how this dish came about. It might sound fiddly, but it's actually quite easy.

Ingredients

250 g halloumi

1 tbsp vegetable oil

10-12 courgette flowers

4 black tomatoes

2 tbsp olive oil

1 garlic clove

1 small yellow courgette

1 tsp Herbes de Provence

½ tsp salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

For the couscous side dish:

1 cup couscous

1 tsp Herbes de Provence

1 garlic stock cube

1 tsp olive oil

Clean the courgette flowers and remove the stamen inside them. Cut the halloumi into small dices and fry them in the vegetable oil until golden brown. Set to side to cool a little, because that makes the stuffing part easier.

Bring one cup of water to boil and add the garlic stock cube, Herbes de Provence and olive oil in there. Once it boils, set it to side and add one cup of couscous. Let the couscous cook with the seasoning, off heat and under lid for about 10 minutes.

Slice the tomatoes, chop the courgette and the garlic. Heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a small pan and quickly cook the garlic, courgette and tomato slices in there. Season with Herbes de Provence, salt and pepper.

Stuff the courgette flowers with the halloumi dices, put just a few dices into each flower, and close them with a toothpick. Heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a large pan and quickly fry the courgette flowers on both sides.

Serve all components together and enjoy your meal!

Your VegHog