Messages are starting to appear on my street WhatsApp group, offering a surplus of courgettes. No takers – I, too, have a plant.
The single plant that grows in my garden has so far yielded probably about three kilo courgettes, and I pick them small! Even if it was our favourite foodstuff (and it isn’t, it’s nobody’s favourite), we wouldn’t be able to eat them as fast as the plant bears fruit. Unless we ate nothing but courgettes for breakfast, lunch and dinner. Why, oh why do tomatoes not ripen so abundantly?
But since I hate waste, I have to come up with new ways for the old zucchini. The flowers are not to be thrown away, they are actually the nicest product from the plant. Fried courgette flowers, stuffed with a little cheese or just lightly battered are something you must try if you’re blessed (or cursed) with zucchini glut.
You can stuff courgettes as well of course, with minced lamb as in my recipe or just with breadcrumbs and cheese. Talking about breadcrumbs, try sautéing courgettes with the magic breadcrumbs, and make sure you make a batch of that crumb topping for another occasion.
Courgette goes well with spinach, as in courgette and spinach tian, but on its own, in a cheesy gratin with tomato sauce, it is very tasty too. Courgette fritters might be an option? But the best thing you can do is not cook it at all but make a raw courgette ribbon salad, with almond flakes and lots of lemon.
Courgette cake featured here last week, but a savoury loaf of bread is also really worth making. To serve with whipped feta and hazelnut dip perhaps?
The cake to consider this week is black forest gateau with fresh cherries, if you’re feeling like a lavish dessert, and crème fraiche pound cake if you want to just whip up something simple and quick. Stay well and keep cooking those courgettes!