how2heroes » Braised Sunflowers w/ Herbed Ricotta

Appetizers » Braised Sunflowers w/ Herbed Ricotta

Crispy, tender sunflowers are filled with herbed ricotta and drizzled with an Anchovy, Caper & Raisin Vinaigrette. Chef Charles Draghi of Erbaluce teaches us that the flavor of sunflowers is similar to artichokes but with a layer of nuttiness. Absolutely delicious and a gorgeous presentation.

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Serves 4 as a light appetizer

Ingredients

For The Sunflowers

4 large sunflowers, stems removed
1 cup dry white wine
½ cup lemon juice
2 fresh bay leaves (or 4 dried bay leaves)
basil sprigs, leaves removed & chopped
2 parsley sprigs leaves removed & chopped
2 mint sprigs, leaves removed & chopped
½ cup olive oil
1 garlic clove, thinly sliced
5 thyme sprigs leaves removed & chopped
sea salt
freshly ground white pepper

Filling

1 cup high quality ricotta
1 heaping tbsp of the chopped herb leaves
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
sea salt
freshly ground white pepper
½ cup of unseasoned breadcrumbs

Vinaigrette

braising liquid left from cooking the sunflowers (should be about ½ cup)
½ cup olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
1 tbsp of the chopped herb leaves
½ cup gold raisins
¼ cup rinsed capers
2 anchovy fillets, finely minced
1 tbsp honey
freshly ground white pepper

How-to

Prepare Sunflowers

Preheat oven to 450º
Remove the yellow petals from the sunflowers, and reserve for garnish
Using a sharp paring knife, trim off the outer dark green areas, and the inner small yellow face of the sunflowers until they are trimmed down to the light green and white center underneath. (They will look like artichoke bottoms, but with compact tiny tubes that look like a corn cob)
Place the cleaned sunflowers into a saucepan, face-down, and add all of the other ingredients (except for the chopped herbs). Season liberally with salt and pepper, and then place a lid on the saucepan, and let braise over a low-medium heat for about 45 minutes, or until very tender and lightly browned
Remove from the pan and let cool

Prepare Filling & Bake Sunflowers

Place sunflowers on a baking sheet. Mix all of the filling ingredients together, and put a large dollop onto each braised sunflower, enough to cover
Sprinkle a liberal amount of breadcrumbs onto each stuffed sunflower, and bake until the bread crumbs are golden brown, about 7-10 minutes

Prepare Vinaigrette

Mix all the vinaigrette ingredients together, and let sit for at least 30 minutes before using

Plate & Serve

Place the sunflowers onto plates, drizzle the sauce around, and garnish with the petals and a sprinkling of the remaining chopped herbs

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Comments (1)

Posted Saturday, September 3, 2011, at 9:27 pm by Eric W:

Report from the field... We had a wonderful meal at Erbaluce in late July, 2011, including a sunflower appetizer that everyone loved. So we were excited to see this online. I believe it's a different dish than what we had, but here's how it went: I wish Chef Draghi had spent more time on preparation--it's not as simple as it seems from the recipe or video! For starters, there are sunflowers with both green and black centers. I don't think this matters, but I'm not sure. Most importantly, they exude a sticky sap that is very hard to clean. We finally resorted to paint thinner to dissolve this stuff! Really quite a mess. The other critical point is that you must slice off ALL of the "face" that contains the seeds and sap. This was not clear to us and we ended up with some that had an unpleasant piney, resinous taste. So, in the end, the sunflower disc is only about 1/4 to 3/8" thick. Our thinnest pieces were fine. The rest of the recipe was easy and tasty. We ended up using leftover vinaigrette sauce on some grilled salmon which was also good. Sorry no photos, but they looked exactly like the pros... <lol>

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Braised Sunflowers w/ Herbed Ricotta