Courgettes…..
Yes, it has arrived, the courgette/zucchini season.
Wondering if a courgette is a zucchini or a zucchini is a squash I have undertaken a bit of research. It seems that the term zucchini is Italian in origin and courgette, French; with various countries adopting either the Italian or French name. There was one suggestion that size defined the difference with courgettes being smaller (stats. available if you want them!).
Wikipedia has some fairly accurate information on zucchini – it’s entry assumes courgettes are zucchini.
For those of us that grow them, we are swamped with them. Perhaps even reminding ourselves that next year we will only allocate space to half as many plants.
For those of you that know courgette growers, the novelty of free courgettes tends to wear off.
Courgettes are delicious, fairly nutritious and low in calories – so keep eating them……
There are a myriad of recipe suggestions for courgettes, below are just 20!
- Courgette and mint soup
- Courgette and parmesan soup
- Courgette, lemon and thyme soup (no recipe, just have a go!)
- Courgette and halloumi salad
- Courgette, feta and watercress salad
- Courgette and chili salad
- Sum tum (try this great Thai green papaya salad, substituting courgette for the green papaya)
- Grilled mackerel with courgette and bean salad
- Ratatouille
- Stir fried courgette with Indian spices
- Roasted courgette, cherry tomato and feta kebabs
- Substitute courgettes for aubergines when making moussaka or melanzane parmigiana
- Courgette, ricotta and thyme tortilla (substitute these ingredients for the recipe shown)
- Courgette and courgette flower oriechette
- Creamy tuna, courgette and spinach (or Swiss chard?) pasta bake
- Tagliatelle with ribbons of courgettes sautéed in olive oil, black pepper and lemon, finished with pesto
- Courgette and feta fritters
- Stuffed courgette flowers
- More stuffed courgette flowers
- Tagine of lamb and courgettes
Have fun!
I have deliberately not mentioned any cakes – far to worthy and desperate!