Hello!

I have been getting organic vegetables delivered and given the time of year, we keep getting courgettes. I hated these as a kid but am now trying to reconcile myself with veg.

How do I cook them so they don't go all squishy and watery?

Help!

Ratatouille and soup are the only ways I can eat them since my dad started producing millions of the things on his allotment.

Slice them either cross-ways or lengthways.

Then fry them very briefly in a non-stick frying pan on a very high heat in about 1 teaspoon olive oil, OR bake in a hot oven (about 200C) for around 8-10 minutes.

Sprinkle with lemon juice and chopped dill or chives.

That was quick!

Thanks for those...I hadn't thought of ratatouille and I like the sound of Jennyanydots quick recipe! I will let you know how I go.

Not everyone's ideal way to use the blighters, but.... raw, sliced very finely, in salads. Needs a good pungent salad dressing, but then, despite not being a prude in the slightest, I really can't like salad un-dressed .

Also very good grated in an oven-bake sort of thing, with a strong cheesy crumble topping. You need something to absorb the water they put out - so use up any stale breadcrumbs, whizzed in a blender or food processor, plus cheese like parmesan or gruyère, seasoning and a bit of mustard to make the crumble, and it'll soak up the worst.

I grew some last year and then decided I wasn't impressed, so my students were very appreciative.

Can you request no courgettes with the box company?




As has already been established - I am a prude (or was it a prune?) and I don't like dressed salad, must be a connection

But despite being a courgette hater that recipe sounds good!

I tend to saute them, or use them in veg lasagne. They also substitute quite well for peppers in most dishes.

I like them best fried in butter or olive oil. Slice them fairly thinly, pat dry and shallow fry on both sides.

I came across a recipe that we really enjoyed a few days ago - courgettes cooked with lemon and mint.
I'll look up the recipe and post if you are interested - but they do end up mushy - deliberately so.

We've given up with courgettes as the morning's courgette is the afternoons best-in-show marrow!
A few years ago we had Jerusalem artichokes every day for 40 days and 40 nights when my OH finally said "ENOUGH".

Cut in half lengthwise.

Scoop out the middle and chop this up finely (or grate it). Mix middle with breadcrumbs, cheese, herbs (or somthing else - e.g. red lentils work well with cheese, rice, potato and couscous work instead ofbreadcrumbs) and put back into middle of each courgette half.

Bake until soft and then enjoy.

Blasphemy!

I remember once buying a courgette and rosemary soup from a farm shop and it was gorgeous.........
there's one here, for example

Not sure if it's the same recipe, but you could always try it....... or google courgette and rosemary soup and see what else is on the internet and try the one that looks most appealing........

Mushy courgettes with garlic and mint

http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fo...nt-1727728.html

Cake

http://www.allotment.org.uk/recipe/60/reci...courgette-cake/

I miss read that as saLute them!

. . . Or use a griddle rather than a frying pan so that you get those "griddle stripes" and all the oil drains away.

Another recipe:

Slice courgettes into four lengthways and then slice, leaving approx 1 cm cubes. Shallow fry in olive oil in a saute pan (with a clove or 2 of crushed or sliced garlic if you like that sort of thing) adding an equal amount of quartered mushrooms about half way through. When the mushrooms look half done put a sprig or two of fresh rosemary in, cover the pan and simmer for about 5 minutes on a low heat. While they are simmering take a separate frying pan and flash-fry some cherry tomatoes in olive oil but do not let them burst. When ready, put the courgettes & mushrooms into a serving dish, put the tomatoes on top and serve. Good with lamb chops or venison & your choice of potatoes (except chips). Enjoy!

Stick them on the compost heap and grow something more appealing next year!

I can recommend the above - I do something similar myself, but I include peppers (yellow or orange to complement the other colours in the dish). You can top the whole thing with cheese at the end if you like; that's good with gammon or chicken, but I wouldn't add cheese if I were having it with lamb. I tend to vary the herbs according to the meat it's to accompany too.

Thanks a million!

Not sure about the old courgette cake there...sounds a bit...different...

However, there are lots of lovely ideas here and I will have to have a think about which one to use this week!

I'm very tempted by Rob's...I love a good lamb chop and that sounds fab.


Yum.

That is the best thing you can possibly do with a courgette! Especially once you've got to the point when even your neighbours are fed-up with them! I actually think that my Dad may have thought better than to grow them this year... we seem to be drowning in stringy beans at the moment instead though. I keep asking him to grow carrots and pumpkins, but no... swiss chard, something that is apparently a rare variety of cabbage (I'm convinced he's started just digging up weeds to feed us!) and beans.

*remembers*

I love courgettes

No, no, no:
that's the recipe for Beetroot!

YOu've had carrot cake?? So why not courgette cake, and beetroot cake while we're at it

http://www.greenchronicle.com/recipes/beet...cake_recipe.htm

THis type of thing was popular in the middle ages. The root veg made the cakes sweet, so you use less sugar. Very healthy

Actually I haven't had carrot cake! I'm coeliac and so have only ever had homemade cakes. We never got to making carrot cake! Maybe I should overcome my prejudices and give it a go.

But chocolate and cake seem to go together so much better...

Sorry I'm off topic here a bit, my daughter has been having food lessons at school and they had to make courgette and cheese muffins - they were absolutely foul, compost heap definately the best place for all courgettes.

My mum makes a really really nice honey roasted Mediterranean vegetable dish, which has lots of sweet peppers and aubergine and loads of things (including courgettes, or courgerettes as I've always called them ) in, as well as crumbled feta cheese I didn't like courgettes before I tried that, but now I can manage them

Cut them raw into "soldiers" and use with a garlic based dip. Delicious!

So I was very brave today and had my courgette with dinner! It was actually delicious. I chopped it up into 2 inch rounds and put it on a very hot pan with a little oil and a crushed clove of garlic. I gave it 2 minutes on each side and then tossed it in chopped chives, lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil. A bit of salt and pepper et viola.
Yum.

Thanks so much for all the suggestions! I will certainly be coming back for other ideas that were on the thread as I suspect the courgette in the vegetable bag won't be going anywhere for a few weeks yet!

Tuna and courgette pasta - delicious and very simple...

Ingredients for 2 portions:
Tin of tuna
1 largish Onion
Garlic (as much as personal preference dictates)
Cougette (1 small/medium)
Pasta (depends on how hungry you are, I usually do about 160g for 2)
*long pasta - spaghetti, linguine, etc, is best.

Use the oil from the tin of tuna to do the frying - adds to the flavour
Slice the onion and garlic. Slice the courgette into thin strips (think matchsticks)
Fry gently while the pasta is cooking
Towards the end, add the tuna into the fried mix.

When the pasta is cooked to taste, drain it and add it to the fried mix till the mixture coats the pasta.

Serve and eat with plenty of ground black pepper and dry white wine!

If you get the flowers too you can batter and fry them. yummy!

Chocolate and courgette cup-cakes
You will need: 200g self raising flour, 250g grated courgettes, 175g plain chocolate, 175ml sumflower oil, 2 eggs, 115g caster sugar.
Method: Melt the chocolate over a bowl of boiling water, and stir into a mixture of oil, eggs and sugar, then put in the grated courgette, then bake in cupacke cases for 25 mins until firm (180 degrees oven temp.)
I know this sounds really gross, but I tried it and it means the cakes are really moist and lovely actually, which I find suprising

Jamie Oliver makes a really nice courgette carbonara, with pancetta and thyme. It's in his "Jamie at Home" book, but I can put it on here if anyone is interested.

A little recipe of mine here ...

penne pasta with tomato and caugette sauce.

For the sauce, put the tomato (tinned, chopped) into a dish, you need to cut and cook the caugette, while your waiting for it to cook, microwave the tomato and mash it. Add the caugette and mix them together. Then you can opt to add some grated cheese if you do so wish to. Then put in ontop of the pasta (in a bowl) and mix it all in and add some dill.

I went on holidays and missed the last part of this! Thanks for the lovely ideas. We found (and ate) this one today...it is seriously yummy and for all those suffering courgette gluts who don't like them...you can't really taste them

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_...icle1666149.ece

We didn't have wine so we used sherry instead.

Hmmmmmm.