What to do with all the courgettes??

Does anyone have any good courgette recipes? I'm practically swimming in the bloomin' things! I've been having a courgette frittata most days for lunch and grating them into salads and couscous and eating them with other mediterranean veg in tomato sauce, but now I'm out of ideas! I don't suppose there is any way of preserving them? They don't look like they'd freeze well.
I'm vegetarian and love my veggies but I'm getting to the stage where I never want to see another courgette again! Help.

 

I saw a recipe for courgette cake somewhere. Haven't tried it myself.

 

Oooh, cake! That sounds more like it

 

Makes a good cake but watch out for sogginess as courgette contains quite a lot of water - you could grate and press it first? Carrot is starchier, if you are thinking of using the same recipe as for carrot cake.

 

Courgette soup..couldn't be simpler or tastier.

Chop large Onion and saute without colour (low heat to soften), add chopped up Courgettes (approx. 4-5) and continue to sauté. to soften. Cover in veg or chicken stock and bring to boil, skim and simmer for 20 mins. Blitz in a food processor till velevety.

You can vary this as much as you like, add herbs or spices or other veg, or use milk instead of stock. Freezes well for use later in the year.

I made one yesterday, using smoked Paprika and a few chili flakes for a very mild heat.

Steve...

 

Thanks Steve, I needed a dinner idea for tonight as my Tesco delivery doesn't come until 10pm! The courgette soup is simmering as we speak, I'll finish it off when I get in from work. I threw in a leek and a potato I had left over and also some paprika as that sounded nice. I don't have a blender so I grated the courgette and potato and will give it a good mash when it's done. I'll let you know how it turns out tonight!

 

I got a recipe for pickles of the internet, havent used it yet as I didn't get as many as I thought I might, but was geared up in case I did

 

The soup was fab!

That sounds perfect Rosie, I love pickles! Where did you find it? If anyone on here has pickled courgettes let me know how they turned out. I haven't ever pickled anything before

 

That looks quite appealing. What does it taste like?

Pickling is fairly straight forward, although I'm gong by my experience of pickling shallots only, but I assume the principal is the same. You may need to draw out some of the moisture in the veg by soaking them in brine overnight. Brine is a salted water solution that costs not much to make. Also you can make your own spiced vinegers or you can buy it ready made that comes with a big jar to stick your veg in too. My pickled shallots cost me less than a pound to make yesterday as I only spent 66p on a bottle of vineger and seeped my own spices before jarring up the whole lot. Be warned though your house will stink of vineger which is the only down side. I don't mind it but Mr Jane hates it.

Another idea which I'm gonna give a try is making a vegetarian lasagne, which I think you replace the meat with layers of thickly cut courgettes and peppers, mixed in tomato sause. Should be interesting.

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4716/creamy-courgette-lasagne

 

Brilliant idea about the courgette layered dish - there could be loads of variations on this.

 

I also like the idea of a layered dish and shall investigate further!

JJ, the soup was lovely. I mean it's courgettes, so it's not a flavour blast but a nice subtle depth of flavour and very refreshing/satisfying. I used about a heaped tablespoon of paprika for 3 portions and it just added a nice gentle touch of spiciness. Great way to preserve courgettes by freezing too...

 

This is a quick tasty recipe for courgettes, but not particularly cheap!
Using a potato peeler, cut ribbons lengthwise off the courgettes, discarding the seedy middle bit if they're big. Marinade the ribbons with crushed garlic, pine nuts, basil leaves, salt, pepper and olive oil for 10-30 minutes. Warm through for max. 5 minutes, stirring gently. It looks spectacular if you use both green and yellow courgettes.
One other way to use them is whole baby ones or sliced big ones sprinkled with roquefort or other tasty blue cheese, wrapped in foil and baked.