The great courgette glut has arrived. In gardens and allotments and markets and store shelves - lots of courgettes (sorry, zucchinis) to be eaten. Lucky us!
What I do when I have lots to get through:
A simple salad of thinly shaved strips, tossed in olive oil, with some shaved pecorino, lemon and sharp rocket leaves.
Sliced an inch or so thick, boiled or steamed, smothered in olive oil, topped with a few thin slices of raw garlic and sprinkled with dried oregano (possibly my favourite?)
Thinly sliced and roasted, alongside chicken legs, so they turn soft and creamy
Stuffed with rice and herbs and baked - with lots of olive oil and garlic again
Grated and squeezed and fried into a crisp fritter.
Roasted, so the flesh goes smoky, and used in dip - like in today’s recipe
Or if you’re lucky enough to get your hands on courgette flowers, stuff them with ricotta and goat’s cheese, dip in a light batter and quickly fry
Something I love to do, if I have them to hand, is use different types of courgettes in the same dish. They all behave slightly differently once cooked (the yellow ones hold their shape better; the round ones go softer and more custardy), so you end up with more texture in one bowl than any single courgette could give you.
There are always more ways to use them all up - here are two (almost three) more.
This is a good one if you have a glut to get through. Courgettes make excellent pickles, and these are inspired by Japanese pickled cucumbers - soy sauce, kombu and shiitake in the brine, which is light enough to double as a dressing for rice, noodle salads or silken tofu (as we’ve done below). The pickle keeps in the fridge for at least a month.
A great use for the courgette pickle - sliced silken tofu, the pickle and the brine, with a spoonful of chilli oil. On very hot days, add a few ice cubes to the bowl. You could serve it with rice or noodles to make it more of a meal.
Baba ganoush is the reference point, but with courgettes in place of aubergine - roasted until charred, then roughly crushed with tahini, lemon and garlic. I love this served warm or at room temperature, with plenty of crusty bread.
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