Macadamia nut cheese-filled courgette flowers

Method

• step 1

  To make the macadamia cheese, first prepare the macadamia nuts by soaking them in a bowl of water for 2 hours – or even better do this the night before. Drain the nuts and tip into a food processor or blender along with 160ml water and blitz until smooth (if you are using a small, hand-held blender, then blitz several times until smooth.) As this is a soft cheese, the texture can be slightly bitty, which I personally love. If you are using a high-speed blender, make sure you don’t overheat or overblend. You want the texture to be ricotta-like.

• step 2

  Once the nuts are blended, transfer to a clean glass container. Add the lemon juice and zest, chives, garlic, and some salt and pepper, then mix well.

• step 3

  Use a metal chef’s ring for this next step, if you have one. Alternatively, you can use a small bowl lined with clingfilm. If you’re using a chef’s ring, place some baking paper under the ring and grease the inside with some oil. Fill the chef’s ring or the bowl to the top with the cheese mixture.

• step 4

  Chill the cheese for a few hours to set and let the flavours marry together. The cheese will keep for up to seven days in the fridge.

• step 5

  Put the cheese mixture in a piping bag, fill the courgette flowers two-thirds full and gently twist the tops to close them up. Once the flowers have been filled, make the batter by mixing all the ingredients together.

• step 6

  Heat a good amount of olive oil in a pan. Gently dip the courgette flowers in the batter and then shallow-fry over a medium heat until browned and crispy. Once fried, put the flowers on kitchen paper to drain and serve immediately with some spring greens and a lemon-flavoured mayonnaise with a few snipped chives stirred in, if you like.