Another use for courgettes

[battybird]

Quite looking forward to using up the glut this year! Gave away several the other day and printed off some of these recipes to go with them!!
Now for the tomato glut recipes!! Start with tomato bread, tomato passata sauce, and chutney!!

[Touchwood]

Oh I wish I had a glut of tomatoes, lots of green ones but nothing ripening.

[battybird]

Actually, I was possibly being hopeful...mine are all green too at the moment but loads of them and they are at last starting to turn ...have faith Touchwood...I am sure they will all suddnely go red!!

[Millymollymandy]

I'm making the bbc choc courgette cake today, will let you know how it went - it's for my French neighbours who are coming to 'tea' - we've been teaching them how to say things like 'a nice cup of tea' and 'bollocks'. I know that makes no sense whatsoever but my English neighbour gives them English lessons so we being rather wicked keep teaching them naughty things to say in class, like 'dunno' and 'gonna' - it was a bit hard to explain the meaning of bollocks in the rubbish sense - one said "It's a bollocks cat, is that right?". Ummm not quite.

[battybird]

Reminds me of my Thai daughter-in-law who has quite a good command of English, but learned from more unusual sources! I tried to explain what a "lie" was and eventually, realsiation dawned and she said " oh you mean bullshit!!"
Quite off topic but as compensation I will try making the chocolate cake at the weekend!

[Bikil]

Reminds me of my Thai daughter-in-law who has quite a good command of English, but learned from more unusual sources! I tried to explain what a "lie" was and eventually, realsiation dawned and she said " oh you mean bullshit!!"
Quite off topic but as compensation I will try making the chocolate cake at the weekend!

Hahahaha! Hilarious!

I made zucchini boats stuffed with hamburger and bread last night, basically like a meatloaf stuffed into a hollowed out zucchini with parm sprinkled on top, yum!

[fifi folle]

Rachel Allen has a lovely recipe for Zucchini Bread, it's a spiced tea loaf, but I'm not sure what the rules are about sharing recipes from books, can someone advise?

[Millymollymandy]

Well we all do, so long as you say who the author is and name of book I don't think that's breaking any copyright rules. Well it might be but I do it, if I can be bothered to type a recipe out. It's worth googling the recipe/author first though as I've found many a time I've gone to type something out it's there on, say, Delia's website for all to see anyway!

I've made the cake but muggins here put it on the wrong temperature for the first 30 mins - was looking at the fan oven temp so it took quite a long time to cook once I'd upped the temp. Looks good though and the raw mixture was delicious, although I think I'd rather have sunflower oil in it than olive as the olive oil taste came through the raw mixture. But I'll find out this afternoon when we eat it cooked!

[fifi folle]

Ingredients
400g plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
1tsp bicarb
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4tsp nutmeg
1/4tsp ground cloves
300g caster sugar
100g demerara sugar
3 eggs, beaten
200ml sunflower oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
380g courgettes, grated
75g chopped walnuts, (*chopped nuts are cheaper though and taste as good)
2 13cm x 23cm loaf tins, greased and floured


Directions
1. Heat oven to 150 degrees C (conventional oven, did it at 140 in fan oven and it was fine)
2. In a large bowl sift flour, salt, baking powder, bicarb, spices, and sugars. Mix well.
3. Add eggs, oil, vanilla and grated courgettes. Mix, then add nuts.
4. Divide mixture between two loaf tins.
5. Bake for 1 - 1 1/4 hrs, until skewer comes out clean.
6. Allow to cool in tins for 20mins before turning out onto wire rack to cool.

Tastes yummy as is, toasted with butter or if you're feeling adventurous top with cream cheese icing!

Rachel Allen, Bake, Meredith's Zucchini Bread.

[bean gardenin']

Heres a delicious courgette recipe I came across in a well known Italian restaurant and found on their website ( didn't put a link because I'm not sure of advertising rules on this forum) - it only takes 2 courgettes but every little helps! (the little spinach balls are really yummy!).

PENNE GIARDINIERA
Serves 4
Spinach balls:
700g raw spinach (about 250g when cooked)
half a clove of garlic, minced
1 egg, beaten
a tiny pinch of nutmeg
45g Parmigiano Reggiano cheese, freshly grated
70g dry breadcrumbs
salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
olive oil for shallow frying


Pasta:
500g Penne Regine (large artisan penne from Puglia)
80g butter
2-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
20g red chillies, finely chopped
2 medium courgettes, coarsely grated
240g Parmigiano Reggiano, freshly grated

To make 28 spinach balls (7 per person):
Boil, but don’t overcook, the spinach in lightly salted water. Press it dry, break open the leaves and tear apart roughly. In a bowl, mix together the torn spinach, garlic, egg, nutmeg and Parmesan. Add about half of the breadcrumbs, to balance the moisture of the mixture. Season with salt and pepper. Roll one ball and fry it, to test for consistency and taste. (If the mixture is too wet, the ball will fall apart during cooking, but too much bread content will lessen the spinach flavour.) Add some more breadcrumbs or seasoning if needed. Fry until golden. Set aside.

To make the pasta:
In abundant salted water, boil the pasta until it’s al dente, perhaps 10-15 minutes. Drain and keep warm. In a pan, melt the butter and heat the garlic and chillies. Add the grated courgettes and fry for a minute or two. Add the cooked pasta and toss in most of the grated cheese (leave some for serving). Season with salt and pepper.

To serve:
In a deep plate or shallow bowl, serve the pasta sprinkled with spinach balls and the remaining Parmesan.

[Millymollymandy]

You can put the link to the recipe/website because it isn't advertising, unless of course it is your restaurant.

[Millymollymandy]

I've made the cake but muggins here put it on the wrong temperature for the first 30 mins - was looking at the fan oven temp so it took quite a long time to cook once I'd upped the temp. Looks good though and the raw mixture was delicious, although I think I'd rather have sunflower oil in it than olive as the olive oil taste came through the raw mixture. But I'll find out this afternoon when we eat it cooked!

It was too dry but delicious with some pouring cream drizzled over it. This is the BBC cake; recipe link in this thread.

I then made the cake again for a BBQ yesterday and managed to cook it at the right temperature so it was moister. Everybody raved about it and they all divided up what was left to take home.

We are still ploughing our way through the first dry one yet my French neighbour wants the recipe!

So all in all, although you can't actually make out any courgette in it like you can with 'green' cake (i.e. no choc in it! ) it is a total success and very, VERY rich and chocolatey.

[123sologne]

I love those recipes and I should cut an paste in my word doc as I have some courgettes in the garden which are soon going to be too many to cope with...

Here are a couple more recipes which I didn't see here yet:
A New Zealander friend gave me this one a few years back.

COURGETTE SAVOURY CAKE

150 g flour (5 oz)
200 g bacon bits (7 oz)
400 g grated skinned courgette (14 oz)
1 sliced onion
3 eggs
2 tablespoons of oil
2 or 3 tablespoons of milk
100 g grated cheese (4 oz) (Cheddar, Gruyere or even goat cheese)

Fry the bacon in a little oil. Once they are well fried, dry them on some kitchen paper towel. Then fry the onion until golden brown. Leave to cool.
Put the floor in a large bowl with a pinch of salt and a pinch of pepper. Make a well in the middle and put the oil and the eggs in. Mix slowly until you obtain a smooth mixture. Add the milk and mix again. Add the grated courgette gradually while you keep on mixing. Finally add the bacon, the onion followed by the cheese.
Grease a round cake tin, pour in the cake mixture and put in a hot oven. Temperature: 180 ˚C, 350 ˚F. Cook for 1 hour.
Once the cake is cooked, turn it out on a dish. It is ready to serve hot or warm accompanied with a salad of green leafs.

COURGETTE SWEET CAKE

350 g flour (12 oz)
200 g sugar (7 oz)
400 g grated skinned courgette (14 oz)
2 dl oïl
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
2 teaspoons of baking powder
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
2 eggs
80 g raisins (3 oz)
3 tablespoons of rum or calvados
200 g cream cheese (7 oz)
100 g icing sugar (4 oz)
2 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Put the raisins in a small dish with the alcohol. Coat all the fruits with the alcohol, cover and leave for 2 hours.
2 hours later…
In a large bowl mix the eggs and the sugar until it has completely melted and the mixture is white and fluffy. Add the grated courgette, the oil and mix well. Slowly add the flour, the bicarbonate, the baking powder, the cinnamon and a pinch of salt. Finally add the raisins and the alcohol. Mix well.
Grease a round cake tin, pour in the cake mixture and put in a hot oven. Temperature: 180˚C, 350˚F. Cook for 1 hour.
To make the topping, mix the cream cheese, the ice sugar, the honey and the lemon.juice.
Spread the topping on the cake. Leave to set then serve.

This one I adore as it is like a carrot cake but with courgettes. Yum!!

[Millymollymandy]

I really like that savoury cake recipe so I'm going to try that one in the next few days. Thanks! (I'm a bit sick of sweet cake right now. )

[123sologne]

I don't know if I could ever be sick of sweet cakes actually... I am just a piggy who LOVES her food way too much!!