Courgette recipes and cake

It is fortunate that courgettes can be adapted for such a wide range of recipés because they do not stop for many pauses in the 4 month UK summer growing period.

Courgettes are currently Britain’s 10th favourite ‘vegetable’ ( though they are technically a fruit).  Their name originates from the french ‘courge‘, with their US alias, zucchini, coming from the Italian ‘zucca’.

In the first MoreSouth bumper courgette blog we showed how the classic mediterranean method of cooking courgette could  be transformed into soup, omelette, quiche, soufflé or risotto, and promised 3 delicious salads.

Summer Allotment Salad

Use your own selection of :  green beans, celery, asparagus, spring onions, green, red and yellow sweet peppers, chives, parsley, cherry tomatoes, courgettes and mozzarella cheese.

• Blanch the beans, asparagus and courgettes by plunging them for 2 -3 minutes in a large pan of salted water
• Rinse in cold running water
• Add to the chopped celery, onions, tomatoes and peppers
• Make a light dressing (eg. olive oil & lemon)
• Add the fresh herbs and mozzarella just before eating

Baby Courgette Salad

This is a salad which you should only make if you grow your own.

500g of small, picked-today courgettes

handful of fresh mint leaves

• Cut the courgettes into 1cm rounds
• Add mint
• Season with olive oil and either lemon juice or balsamic vinegar, and a little salt

Bi-colour Ribbon Salad

250g courgettes

250g young carrots

olive oil, soya sauce

• Peel the courgettes lengthways, including skins
• Peel the carrots lengthways after removing outer peel
• Marinate for 60 minutes in oil and soya dressing at room temperature

Lemon and vanilla are two ingredients which particularly complement the delicate taste of courgette in cake but  cupcake makers ‘Petit Pois’  claim that the high percentage of vegetable they use cannot be tasted directly. (They can be bought in posh shops in London.)

And if  that doesn’t appeal today-

- maybe a journey back to the mediterranean to tackle Ratatouille is called for as the warmth of summer evenings draws to a close.

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