Courgetttes on Allotment

All the experts said 4 or 5 plants would be enough for a family of 4 but I had to disagree. Now with 8 producing and some from seed the ground, planted by me or the previous owner I will have over 15 plants!!!

Courgettes fried, oven baked, boiled, curried.

Only get to allotment once a week and with all this rain and heat I get around 9 large courgettes a week plus 1 or 2 from the one in the garden. I think this week though there may be a few marrows waiting. I will find a use for them, maybe I'll try making the marrow gin that everyone always talks about or chutneys, any ideas?

 

You could make some soup Johnny. Courgette and ginger is very nice.

 

That sounds lovely Alice please post the recipe

 

If you are looking for courgette recipes, instead of googling the word 'courgette', try googling 'zuchinni', and if you can convert North American recipes to UK measurements, you will get loads.
We tend to get so many, that they get added to almost anything - spaghetti sauces, lasagne, stir fries, roasted vege mix, zuchinni bread is a favourite though With the ones that get bigger, I tend to brush those with a little olive oil, season with some herbs and grill on teh barbecue - delicious with roasted peppers

 

Our Courgettes have gone mad. We have 6 plants and are harvesting about that many per day !

Next door neighbours have given us a recipe:

Courgette and Tomato:

3 Tablespoons of olive oil
2 Onions (sliced)
1.5 lbs Courgettes (Sliced)
2 cloves of Garlic
6 Tomatoes, skinned and chopped
1 Tablespoon Tomato Puree
Salt and Pepper
1.5 lbs Pottatoes (Boiled and mashed)
4 Spring Onions (Finely chopped)
4 Tablespoons of Milk

Heat the oil in a pan and add the onions and courgettes, fry for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the Garlic, Tomatoes, Tomato Puree and Salt and Pepper (to taste). Cover & simmer for 5 minutes then turn into a 1.5 litre oven-proof dish.

Beat the Potato with the Spring Onions, some Oil, Milk, and Salt and Pepper. Spoon over (to cover) the Courgette mixture. Cook in a pre-heated oven (Gas mark 6, 200C) for 30 to 40 minutes until golden. Serve immediately.

 

Courgettes are the classic 'glut' producer, I love simple sauted or roast courgettes but tire of them towards the end of summer.

A friend cooks them with peanut butter - delicious but I found it difficult to do without burning the PNB

Last year we made courgette fritters, simply courgettes grated, seasoned and mixed with chick pea flour then shallowed fried. Something similar to the Indian pakora and simply delicious.

Grated courgette also makes a very good cake in the carrot cake style

 

I love courgettes, it's only my second year growing them, last year I had no idea they produced so much & I planted about twenty . This year I have seven which may still turn out to be too much! Here is a really simple, refreshing, delicious summer pasta recipe you might like to try:

Rigatoni with courgette and Lemon
2 tbs olive oil
2 tbs butter
4 cloves garlic
3 medium courgettes, chopped into thick half moons
1 tbs chopped fresh oregano
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1 lb rigatoni or similar pasta
1 lemon



Bring a pot of salted water to boil. While the water comes to a boil, heat olive oil over medium heat in a large saute pan. Add whole garlic cloves to the oil and brown, discarding garlic.

When the water comes to a boil, add dried pasta and cook until al dente. Meanwhile, melt the butter in the saute pan and add courgette. Cook until warm, but still firm. After about 5 minutes, add the chopped herbs. The courgette should cook in about the same time as the pasta. Drain pasta and remove the courgette from heat.

Combine the pasta in the saute pan with the courgette and toss with parmesan. Squeeze the lemon over the pasta and toss to combine.

 

I made marrow and ginger jam from the Good Food mag website. It is delicious. Also, from elsewhere, marrow and lentil bake, curried courgette and coconut soup (made-up), courgette and stilton soup (made-up). For the soup recipes, I just cook the veg in a small amount of water, and add either stilton or coconut and curry powder, cook for a bit, blend, add liquid to desired thickness and add marigold bouillon to taste. There's a good recipe in Nigella's Forever Summer which is for courgettes slow-cooked with sultanas, soaked in madeira I think, and pine nuts, served with papardella; it's surprisingly nice! Liz