Courgettes

[Mrs Ava]

A couple of ways I use up my courgettes.

This is loosely based on a recipe Gavin posted last year.

Grate a couple of courgettes, place in a bowl and sprinkle with salt.  Leave to one side.  Meanwhile, thinly slice and fry an onion and some crushed or sliced garlic in olive oil.  (At this point I use some spices, like cummin or coriander or a sprinkle of mustard seeds is wonderful!) Rinse the courgette and squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeze it as dry as you can, then add it to the lightly browned onion and cook in the pan for about 10 minutes.  Smear a little olive oil around an oven proof dish - I use little old fashion pottery pie dishes I have - and pack in the courgette/onion mix.  Make an indentation in the middle and crack in an egg.  Sprinkle grated cheese of your choice over then bake in a moderately hot oven for about 10 to 15 mins, or longer if you prefer your egg hard.  The bigger the amount of courgette, the more eggs you can use!  I have this on it's own with bread, or it is velllly nice with crispy smokey bacon!

Courgette boats

Make up a batch of  bolognaise or chilli type sauce, but keep it nice and thick.  Tonight I made a chilli sauce to use, very thick and rich and plenty of home grown chillis in it to spice it up!

Amount of courgette boats depends how hungry you are, or how big your courgettes.  Tonight I used one of my huge courgettes.  Sliced down the middle and scooped the inards out.  (This was minced up and put in with the minced lamb - waste not want not!)  I then sprinkled salt over the cuts and left them in a bowl for about 10 minutes.  Rinsed well, they were plunged into boiling water for about 5 minutes then placed in a lightly oiled oven dish.  The thick chilli mix was spooned down the middle of each 'boat'  I made a thick cheese sauce which I drizzled over each courgette, then sprinkled with some breadcrumbs for an extra texture.  These were baked in a medium oven for 40 minutes and served on soft fluffy rice.  If you are not over stuct on courgettes, this is quite a good way of cooking them as the strong flavours from the meat, toms and spices soak into the flesh of the courgette.  Ava wolfed it down!

I also made the courgette and roasted garlic soup today, had some for lunch and froze the rest!  Very nice indeed.

What about making courgette and ginger jam instead of marrow and ginger jam.  Delish!

And to enjoy the jam, try making Paul Hollywoods Courgette loaf!

Ingredients
3 medium eggs
240ml corn oil
480g caster sugar
720g plain flour, sifted
2 tsp Baking powder, sifted
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Salt
480g courgettes, coarsely grated
2 tsp vanilla essence
50g Chopped walnuts
Butter, to serve

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas 4.

2. In a large mixing bowl break in the eggs and add in the oil. Whisk thoroughly for 5 minutes.

3. Add in the caster sugar and beat for a further 3 minutes.

4. Fold in the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, grated courgettes, vanilla essence and walnuts, mixing well.

5. Pour the cake mix into 2 greased and lined 900g loaf tins, dividing it evenly between the two.

6. Bake for 1 hour until risen and golden. Serve it warm or cold in slices with butter.


 

[Mrs Ava]

[Mothy]

 ;D ;D ;D

Thanks EJ!!


;D ;D ;D

[wardy]

Thanks too EJ for inspiration on how to use our lovely courgettes.  I dangled yet another one in front of my old man (a courgette that is  ;) and reminded him that he paid 76 p not so long ago for one at the supermarket  ;D  ;D  He's beginning to regret my getting an allotment as he never realised just how many courgettes he'd be forced to eat which he DOES NOT like.  Just like getting a kid to eat his veggies  :)

[flowerlady]

the little ones (courgettes that is) also make the most interesting fritters!

EJ I can't wait for my courgettes to grow big enough to pick and grate, your baked egg alternative sounds great.

[Gravinder]

ej your a true wizard. have you ever cooked pigeon before?

[Derekthefox]

Excellent EJ, with 8 courgette plants I have a lot of courgettes to use up!

[wardy]

Grav - pigeon is very tasty  :)  People always used to eat it when I was little and my OH's family used to have it.  Rabbit too.  People had less money then so had to eat what was available  :)

[Mrs Ava]

Yup, eaten and cooked pigeon lots of times.  Wardy, we lurve rabbit, wild of course.  My darling occassionally goes shooting wabbits so we always have a dozen or so living the cold life in our freezer.  Reminds me, I have a couple of pheasants, some venison, duck and goose in there....game pie me thinks.  ;D

[tim]

Do wish we had wabbits!

But courgettes? Another way. Goat's cheese & mint.

[wardy]

Our rabbits are dead with myximatosis so no tandoori bunny for a while yet.  Like the idea of those Tim.  Have picked another stack off the plot today  :)

[Icyberjunkie]

Thanks for that EJ - I'm now sat here with my mouth watering so now have little excuse but to go and tackle my courgette mountain!

[tim]

This must be good - dear Wife enjoyed it!!

No red pepper, so used yellow & added smoked paprika.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v164/photo04/courgetterec.jpg

[wardy]

Thanks Tim.  We'll become absolute geniuses on here for cooking with courgettes.  We'll invent our own degree in it.  I've just awarded you an honorary masters  ;D

[Debs]

Tim,

Where did you get the smoked paprika from?

I went to Budapest for my 40th last year and visited a food market.

Paprika is to Budapest what coals are to Newcastle and jellied eels to

you lot wot lives down sarf   ;D

but the hungarian stallholder looked at me as if I was speaking

double dutch  -  which I do not!!

Debs  ;D

[tim]

www.brightfoods.com

Nice people!

[wardy]

I wanted to make a cassoulet and I got the ingredients, including paprika from my local deli, and the owner put me the paprika in his smoke house for a spell.  It was lovely and it does give a definite smoky flavour to the finished dish  :)

[Hot_Potato]

Please can someone tell me where I can find the recipe for the CHEESEY MARROW dish that I think Mrs. Frog posted a long time ago now....had a printed copy til recenlty but at the weekend - sent all the ingredients (bar the cheese) home with my youngest son & grandson for their Mum to make - now can't find original thread to print myself out another one and have looked really hard  >:(

[Roy Bham UK]

;D Tis here ;D and proving to be very popular I have cooked this baby and highly recommend it (Thanks again Mrs Frog) ;D

Cheesy marrow:

1 marrow
about 3oz butter
finely chopped onion
squished clove garlic (or two, depending on taste)
1 chopped green pepper
8 oz skinned and chopped tomatoes
6 oz mature cheddar, grated, with a bit of mozzarella if you've got it

Peel marrow, slice, de-seed and cut into cubes
Fry in butter until golden
Move it to a plate, leaving as much juices in the pan as poss
Add onion, garlic and pepper to pan, fry until pale Goldy colour,
Add marrow and tomatoes, mix well
Put half in an ovenproof dish, cover with cheese
Put other half of marrow mix on top, add rest of cheese
Bake in oven approx 200 C until brown on top, takes about 30 Min's

Absolutely delicious!!!!

We have it with a roast, haven't found a person yet who doesn't like it!!

Lisa AKA Mrs Frog

[Hot_Potato]

Thanks Roy for that - have run off another copy.

I've still not tried the exact recipe yet but have tried various variations - try to always leave out the cheese (which sounds balmy considering what it's called) other than just a 'scattering' on the top as I have to watch the old cholesterol levels.

Do intend to do it properly tho when I have visitors who can 'help me eat it up'.....

H.P.

[Roy Bham UK]

;D I have a heart problem but throw caution to the wind and have tried "cheesy marrow" twice with cheese ::) and enjoyed both those naughty times ;D