Hair Getting Thin On The Ground

I'm out of ideas... I've fed them. eased up on the watering, increased the watering, raised them onto a pallet board to improve drainage...



They're still producing fruit ~ loads of them in fact, really sweet tasty courgettes... this example is nearly a foot in length...



I'm running out of novel ideas of how to cook them, so far we have had them sauteed, baked, in casseroles ( they disappear ), courgette bread and even courgette cake ( highly recommended ), but for every one that we harvest I put two that go into the compost bin... and that irks me. To me a plant should look as if it is having a happy life, and these don't look that way.
Inspiration is desperately needed!

 

I made a quick corgette pickle last year. Had some last week and i'd forgotten how good it tastes.

I'll see if I can find the recipe.

 

Think it was this one,

Recipe: Zuni Café zucchini pickles - latimes.com

If its not then its very similar, I know it didn't take long & was not complex.

 

slice them in 1/2 inch thick slices

place in a plastic bag with a bit of self raising flour and salt/pepper

shake up the bag so that they get coated in flour

deep fry in fairly hot sunflower oil till they crisp and go golden brown

serve with a garlic sauce (the garlic sauce has to be made a few hours prior to frying the courgette

garlic sauce recipe:

half a loaf of white bread cut in 1 inch slices (crusts removed)

place the bread slices in a bowl and cover with milk ... leave for a few minutes, then squeese the milk out of the bread with your hands and place in an electric blender

add 1/4 tea cup of extra virgin olive oil, juice of 1/2 fresh lemon, salt and fresh ground pepper and 4-5 cloves of crushed garlic (use one of those garlic crusher thingys)

blitz till it goes smooth ... place in a bowl and put in the fridge for an hour or so ... mix with a fork and garnish with a few sprigs of fresh parsley

serve the garlic sauce with the courgette soon after finishing frying (hot)

this sauce goes very well with sliced pickled beetroot or eggfruit (brinjals) or marrow that is cooked the same way as the courgette (fried with the flour) ... brinjal is a little more tricky as you have to salt it first to remove the bitter flavour, then rinse under cold water and pat dry before frying

 

Ziggy beat me to it on the pickle/chutney front, but what about one of Mr. F'smum's favourites - marrow (a marrow is just an adult courgette ... right?) and ginger jam? Recipe available if required.

 

I cut mine up into small chunks, gently fry them in a little splash of olive oil, with salt, pepper and a bit of chilli, if so desired, and then whisk up a few eggs and pour over, leave until cooked. Quite tasty for brunch. But wouldn't have a clue how to store them so pickle or chutney sounds good.

 

Your wish is my command 'new friend'! It's my Gran's recipe and she was definitely pre-decimalisation, so it's Imperial weight I'm afraid.

To each 1 lb marrow (after peeling and de-seeding)
1 lb sugar
Either - 1 level teaspoon ground ginger or 2-4 pieces stem ginger. These days, I prefer to use fresh ginger, peeled and grated or finely chopped (then 'bashed' with a rolling pin to release as much flavour as possible) - a bit weighing about ½ - ¾ oz should be enough - depending on how 'gingery' you like it.
1 lemon - juice and pared rind

Cut the marrow into about 1" cubes, and put it, (together with the lemon juice) and sugar in alternate layers into a preserving pan*. Add the ginger and lemon rind tied in a muslin bag (you can add both without the bag if you don't mind the occasional 'hit' of ginger in your mouth later), cover and leave overnight.

*Note. Do use the preserving pan for this, or failing that a plastic bucket - you'd be surprised at just how much liquid you'll get (take it from one who thought a mixing bowl would be large enough and came down next morning to find ..... it wasn't!)

Next day, bring slowly to the boil then, stirring frequently to stop it sticking, cook gently until the syrup is thick and the marrow clear and transparent.

Boil rapidly until a set is achieved

 

Quick fry in a beer batter.

BBQ on skewers with sweet peppers, onion, meat (any kind) or chicken.

 

I think I was misunderstood... I was wondering what I could do to revive the tired looking courgette plants rather than what to do with the produce
... but I like the idea of the courgette chutney, and although I'm a fruit chutney kind of guy myself next year I'll give it a try.

This afternoons spell in the kitchen with some of the unripened Conference pears went well... I've now got around 10lbs of the lovely stuff. That's my winter cheeseboard taken care of.

 

Hi Skinner,The main problem I can see with your plants is that they have been restricted too long in those small pots and that is why they are starting to look a bit sick.The best way to gorw them is to plant them out in open ground after the last of the frosts have finished which for you might be a bit earlier where you live down in Surrey.

It is probably too late now in the season to either repot them on into larger pots or put them out into the ground because any shock to their root system might stop them from producing any more fruit as the plants will try to produce more roots at the expence of fruit.

The only thing now would be to give them a good feed of tomato fertiliser and see what happens and whether they produce a late crop of fruit

You also might want to move the plants away from each other a bit as they have some mildew on the leaves due to lack of air circulation and possibly dry conditions.

Next year if you can plant them in the open ground with plenty of room to grow and not have them too crowded and Good Luck with them next year

 

Chop into chunks and boil up with a few peeled cloves of garlic, some curry powder and when softened, add some block creamed coconut and veg stock to taste. Blend. Very quick and tasty soup.

 

What the whole plant? This could be the beginning of a revelation

 

Hmmm. Well you could try the whole plant if you want. I'd rather not though!