Topic: What to do with courgette glut?

[cestrian]

I've just picked 4Kg of yellow courgettes from the garden (soleil). That's only 10 courgettes. i'm not complaining but they are growing faster than we can eat them. Maybe five plants was too much.

Has anyone got any tips on what to do with them? Do they freeze ok? I was thinking of making some spicy courgette soup.

Any better ideas?

[RenishawPhil]

let them grow big and make lovely marrow curd (made with lemons), its wonderful!!!!

[hippydave]

yer i do the same yellow marrow or courgette marmalade and its delicious

[Digeroo]

If you go to food.com and put in Zucchini as ingredients.  Then tick all the different boxes, you will get
9,955 recipes.

There are several ones for cakes.

Apparently courgette chocolate cake is good.  I made a very nice courgette spiced cake a couple of years ago.

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/633634/chocolate-courgette-cake

I am missing the piggy who lived next to our lotties he loves courgettes especially overgrown ones.

[Debs]

Courgette chocolate cake is so yummy!!
The courgettes make the cake beautifully moist
I made a chocolate beetroot cake at the weekend for visitors which was also very good

Go on, give it a try . . . you know you want to!! 

[squeezyjohn]

If you like curry - at least some of them can be employed making this fat-free curry sauce to be frozen and used all through the year using glut items from July/August.

http://squeezyjohn.tumblr.com/post/29825104653/a-recipe-to-use-up-courgettes-no-1-curry-sauce?og=1

[taurus]

had to bread dough.  Lemon drizzle cake. eat rough in salads(grated).  Grated or chopped, cook up left overs and use to fill pancakes.

[jokey]

soup, bakes and post them through neighbours letter boxes and run lol x

[cestrian]

lol - some good ideas. thanks - I'll definitely have a go at some of these.

If all else fails I'll try the letter boxes! 

[Digeroo]

I saw a lovely cartoon which said not hawkers, circulars or courgettes.

I am giving away load, at the moment I find people are still pleased to see them.

There is also marrow and ginger marmalade.   
 
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/7565/marrow-and-ginger-jam

[pumkinlover]

lol - some good ideas. thanks - I'll definitely have a go at some of these.

If all else fails I'll try the letter boxes! 

Remember to pick them small enough if you want to push them through letter boxes! 

[artichoke]

My husband won't eat courgettes but last night I grated one into an omelette mixture with some grated cheese, cooked in a frying pan and finished off under the grill, and he cheerfully ate it without comment. I thought it was excellent. I am always looking out for something to grate courgettes into, and bread mixture is certainly good, also grated into a salad with enough distracting ingredients and a good sauce - just part of the anonymous greenery. We don't eat cakes, but extended family is descending on us for a week, so I mean to try a chocolate and courgette cake.

[antipodes]

yes they freeze OK, chopped small, but they tend to be soft when you cook them up. they are fine for winter soups, curries, etc.
I second the courgette cake! I think there is a recipe in the A4A recipe section if you look. I have a recipe on my blog : http://roos-and-camembert.blogspot.fr/2008/06/chocolate-and-courgette-cake.html
You can make courgette and ginger jam, which is nice.

[Borlotti]

I made soup and have frozen some, will appreciate it in winter.
4 tbsp olive oil
thingy of butter
1 small onion
2 courgettes
300 g frozen peas (or fresh if you have them)
500 ml veg. stock
handful of mint
saute onion
add sliced courgettes cook for 10 mins
then add other ingredients in saucepan and cook until soft and blend.
Very filling with bread.
Going to leave a couple to grow big and stuff.  Have left some on the front wall, but still there in the morning.  Don't like to compost then, but as that is the only thing that is doing well at present, may have to.

[pumkinlover]

http://http://www.allotments4all.co.uk/smf/index.php/topic,62722.0.html
irish marrow chutney. Lovely after it has matured for a while.
 
Regarding soup with courgette or marrow- I find some carrots ( own or bought organic for best flavour)  add make the soup better- but I have never tried peas- will now though Thanks Borlotti!

Link not working - I will try and sort later but just got to make some soup for lunch!

[Paulines7]

My 8 year old granddaughter really hates courgettes.  However, last weekend I cut a small piece off a raw cavili courgette and told her it was similar in taste to a cucumber. She tried it, liked it and ended up eating it all. 

I use raw courgettes in salads and also put them in spaghetti bolognese, chilli concarne and curries. 

Best of all though I like them dipped in batter and fried like they do them in Greece but it is never successful if I try to do them this way myself.  Has anyone got a good Greek recipe for this?  Most times we have them dipped in olive oil, seasoned and then put on the grill of the barbecue.   

This year I haven't had many courgettes as I put three plants in a growbag in the greenhouse, hoping to get some early ones.  I don't think they are being fertilised as some of the ends rot and then go mouldy.  I have two other plants outside in the garden and they are doing a lot better.   

[peanuts]

Lots of interesting ideas here from everybody!
Agree most of all with choc courgette cake!  Even better with added raisins and nuts.
A freeze them at the end of the season, sliced, in bags, to add to stews etc during the winter.
I do a cold courgette soup, very easy to make with just courgettes,  on onion, plenty of milk, a stock cube, lots of mint and seasoning.  Could use cream instead, or add a little creme fraiche. Cook until soft, blitz and chill.  That's it. delicious. 

[GREGME]

pick small and often and the best recipe I know is grating them for frying with herbs etc after drying them a bit by squeezing out excess moisture in a tea towel or kitchen roll -

[cestrian]

Thanks for the ideas. Choc cake and Courgette Marmalade (Beeezaar - thanks HippyDave et al!!) and marrow chutney are all on the agenda. However today I made 5 pints of spicy courgette soup. It's a simple recipe but it is ab-sholutely flippin gorgeous!! Our baby, Molly is 4 months old and my wife wants me to make a batch up to freeze for her when she is weaning in a couple of months time. Of course the baby recipe is minus the chillis etc  I don't want to face those nappies just yet!! 

I normally add a couple of handfuls of beans or a few potatoes to my soups. My turnip & black eyed bean soup is legendary, but I resisted temptation with this one because I wanted to taste the courgettes.

This is my spicy yellow courgette soup recipe (all out of the garden or the green house apart from the spices)

1.5Kg of yellow courgettes
1 red onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 Cayenne pepper
2 tspns Soi sauce
1 tspn fish sauce
1 tspn Thai lemon spice (hot) or use cayenne pepper
Freshly ground black pepper and salt to taste

Fry everything up in olive oil for a few minutes, onions first then peppers, then garlic.
Put this to one side. Chop up the courgettes and fry in a little olive oil for five minutes to soften.
Add everything to the pot with 3-4L of vegetable stock.
Simmer for 20 minutes.
Blitz with a hand blender.

Yum!  Veggy heaven!!


I've also got a glut of chillis at the moment so I eat them with every meal. They are addictive though. 

[hippydave]

im going to cook that soup for dinner right now it sounds very tasty