Food & Drink
If you have a glut of wonderful homegrown courgettes, then lucky you. They are delicious
Neil Forbes cooks with courgettes, plus Rose Murray Brown on the best gruner veltliner
There’s a running gag in our family about my dad growing courgettes and having a compost heap. We took the mickey out of my poor old man for growing veg for the family, but now I look back so fondly on the whole process.
He started with buying, planting and watering the seed. Then, using a pencil, he would write the plant name on an old lollipop stick (very sustainable) and place it in the pot. A few weeks later, the first signs of life appeared. Green shoots poking through the brown soil, composted from old grass-cuttings, kitchen and garden waste.
I was mesmerised by this process and after a few weeks the wee pots were tipped out and planted into the garden proper. I remember my dad dressed in brown cords and a checked shirt, with his Seventies beard and glasses, bending over the veg patch to show me how pollination happens. All of it handed down to him from his father before him. Now it’s my turn to show my kids how it all works. And to serve them courgettes most nights during summer.
Courgette, basil and mint soup with oven dried tomato and Anster cheese
This is a great way to use up these wonderful vegetables when you have a glut. The recipe is so easy and it keeps well – it’s great served chilled in small amounts on a very hot summer’s day. The extra-virgin olive oil really works here. And do use the courgette flowers as a garnish.
Serves four
2 large courgettes, diced into rough 1-inch cubes 1 banana shallot, peeled and diced 1 clove garlic, peeled and thinly sliced 1 small handful of basil and mint leaves, roughly chopped 100g grated Anster cheese, or any other hard, crumbly cheese 2 tomatoes 100ml extra-virgin olive oil good salt and pepper a few edible flowers like cornflower or calendula to garnish 1 Heat the oven to 150C/gas Mark 2. 2 Remove the eyes from the tomatoes and give them a good wash. Cut them in half and lay them on an ovenproof tray. Sprinkle with good salt and pepper and trickle over some extra-virgin olive oil. Place in the oven for between 1 and 2 hours. Remove and keep in a tub in the fridge if you wish.
3 Heat 50ml of the oil in a pot and sweat the shallot and the garlic until soft, then add the courgette and season. Stir and add enough boiling water to cover and a bit more.
4 Cook for 10 to 15 minutes until soft – don’t let it dry out – then add the herbs and blitz with a hand-blender.
5 Add three quarters of the cheese and blitz again – it doesn’t need to be super-smooth. Check the seasoning.
6 To serve, pour the soup into warmed bowls and add the tomatoes and the extra cheese. Garnish with some edible flowers and an extra trickle of olive oil. Serve with some good bread.
Crispy courgette flowers, chive and horseradish mayonnaise
I find the growth of a courgette plant so beautiful, especially using the ancient Native American Three Sisters method of growing corn, beans and courgettes closely together. I cook baby courgettes with the flower attached, stuffed with crowdie, lemon and cracked pepper then fried in a light batter (a bit like the Italian dish that uses ricotta). Mine are deep fried and served with a tangy mayo dip. Delicious with a glass of fizz on a sunny day outside.
Serves two allow 2 to 3 courgette flowers each, gently washed, I prefer the closed big ones 2 tbsp plain organic flour 1 tsp fresh or dried yeast ⅓ bottle of good beer, warmed in a pan on the hob 1 tbsp chopped chives 1 tbsp creamed horseradish 2 big tbsp mayonnaise sunflower oil for frying good salt and pepper
1 Make the batter by adding two thirds of the flour to a bowl with the yeast and warm beer. Season and add half the chives. Whisk to a smooth paste. Add a little water if too dry, or more flour if too wet. Leave in a warm place for half an hour to allow it to ferment.
2 While this is happening, make the dip by adding the remaining chives to the mayonnaise with the horseradish. Mix well and spoon into a serving dish.
3 Dip the flowers into the remaining flour and then into the batter, allowing all the excess batter to drip off by scraping the flower on the side of the bowl. They only need a little coating or they will be too stodgy.
4 Submerge the flowers into the deep fat fryer (heated to 160C) or a highsided pan, with 2 inches of cooking oil, and cook for a few minutes on both sides. Remove and dry on kitchen paper. Season with salt and paper and serve with the horseradish and chive mayo.
Sautéed courgette, radish, lemon, thyme and garlic
A simple courgette sauce is so simple but worthy of gracing any table. My dad always sautés them with garlic, sometimes a hint of chilli, but always in copious amounts of good olive oil. The smell of courgettes frying
still reminds me of summers as a child messing about outside in the sun whilst dinner was being cooked. The garlic was crushed, and finely chopped, sometimes grown at home or brought back from holidays in the Dordogne. I was so lucky as a child to visit village markets in France, seeing fresh vegetables, peaches, goat’s cheeses and mushrooms. Back then I had never seen any markets in Britain, but now we have them in most towns at weekends. What great progress.
Serves four as a side dish 1 large or 2 smaller courgettes, cut on the slant a handful of mixed garden radishes, red and white, quartered 2 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced a few thyme leaves, finely chopped 1 tbsp curly parsley, chopped 1 lemon, juice and zest good salt and pepper 50ml good extra-virgin olive oil a splash of water
1 Get your favourite frying pan on the hob and bring it to a medium heat. Add the oil and courgettes then season with salt and pepper. Sauté for a few minutes until they start to colour, then add the sliced garlic, radishes, thyme, lemon zest and a splash of water to stop the garlic from burning.
2 Give it a good stir then add the lemon juice. The courgettes should be just cooked and not too mushy but the radishes should have a crunch.
3 Finish with the parsley, give a final mix, then serve in side dishes.