Seasonal local food recipe No.331 – Flora’s famous courgette cake with lime and pistachio icing

This luscious teatime treat was recommended by a friend on our Facebook page in a conversation about courgette olive oil bread. It comes from Nigella Lawson’s classic How to be a Domestic Goddess, and is reproduced here thanks to Irish community gardening guru Dee Sewell of Greenside Up.

Preparation: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes

Serves: 8

Ingredients
60g sultanas, optional
250g courgettes (2-3), weighed before grating
2 large free range eggs
125ml organic rapeseed oil
150g caster sugar, sieved
225g self-raising flour
half teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
half teaspoon baking powder

lime curd for filling (buy in shop or make your own)
2 x 21cm sandwich tins, greased and lined

Method
If you’re using sultanas, put them in a bowl and cover with warm water to plump them up.

Wipe the courgettes with kitchen towel (don’t peel them), then grate.  The coarse side of an ordinary grater is best as anything finer or smaller can make them mushy).  When the courgettes are grated turn them into a sieve over the sink to remove excess water.

Put the eggs, oil and sugar in a bowl and beat until creamy.  Sieve in the flour, bicarb and baking powder and continue to beat until well combined.  Now stir in the grated courgette and add the drained sultanas.

Equally pour the mixture into the tins and bake for 30 minutes until slightly browned and firm to the touch.  While they’re in the oven, make the icing. When baked, leave the cake in the tins on a rack for 5-10 mins then turn out and allow them to cool. Fill with lime curd and ice the top.

Lime and pistachio icing:
200g cream cheese
100g icing sugar, sieved
juice of 1 lime, or more to taste
2-3 tablespoons chopped pistachio nuts

Beat the cream cheese in a bowl until smooth, add the icing sugar, beating well to combine, then stir in the lime juice to taste. Sprinkle the pistachio nuts over the top.

Seasonal local food recipe No.330 – Zucchini (courgette) olive oil loaf cake

I fed this classic American loaf cake surreptitiously to a courgette-hating 11-year-old who gobbled it down and asked for a second slice. It really is delicious and ideal for summer outdoor eating.

This version from Claire Ptak of Violet Bakery in east London uses cardamom and ginger root, others prefer nutmeg and cinnamon.

It’s worth noting that our veg box courgettes don’t need salting to leach out the excess liquid, as they’re small and freshly picked. If you buy your vegetables from a supermarket though, beware.

Makes 1 900g loaf

Preparation time: 20 minutes (longer if you salt the grated courgettes)
Cooking time: 50 minutes

Ingredients
500g courgettes, grated
[1 tsp salt]
butter, for greasing
280g wholemeal flour
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp ground cardamom
200g olive oil
200g light brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 tbsp vanilla
70g knob of ginger, peeled and grated (around 50g after peeling)

Method
[Grate the courgette and toss with the salt. Put in a colander over a bowl, and allow the liquid to leach from the courgettes for 3 hours, or overnight. You will lose around 150g in liquid.]

Set the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6. Butter and line a 900g (2lb) loaf tin with parchment.

Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and cardamom together. In a separate bowl, whisk the oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla and ginger together. Add the drained courgette. Stir in the dry ingredients, mixing until just incorporated.

Tip into the prepared loaf tin, and bake for around 50 minutes, or until the bread is golden and springs back to the touch.

Seasonal local food recipe No.283 – Courgette and spinach tian

I don’t know where the original recipe for this dish came from but it tastes good.  The quantities quoted are what I used tonight.  I served it with carrots though a salad would also be good.  It is also delicious cold.

Serves 4

Preparation time: 30 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients
1 onion, finely chopped
1 Tbs olive oil
3 medium courgettes, chopped into small chunks
200 g spinach, shredded
50 g rice, cooked
100g cheddar cheese, grated
3 eggs, lightly beaten
freshly ground black pepper
3 Tbs grated parmesan cheese

Method
Heat the oil in a large pan and gently fry the onion.  Once the onion is starting to go translucent add the chopped courgette and cook until the courgette has softened.  Add the spinach and cook until wilted.  Remove the pan from the heat and add the rice, cheddar cheese, pepper and eggs.  Mix well before pouring into a greased, shallow oven proof dish.  Sprinkle the parmesan cheese over the top.  Bake in a preheated oven at 200°C/ Gas Mark 6 for 30 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

Seasonal local food recipe No.242 – Jamie’s smashed courgette paste

This is from Jamie Oliver’s The Return of the Naked Chef.  I use it as a pasta sauce but it can also be used as a spread on toasted bread or as a ravioli filling if mixed with ricotta cheese.

Serves 6-8

Preparation time – 10 minutes
Cooking time: 35-40 minutes

Ingredients
olive oil
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
1-2 small dried red chillies, crumbled
6-8 small courgettes roughly sliced
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 handful mint, chopped
juice of 1 lemon

Method
Put a couple of lugs of olive oil in a hot pan and fry the garlic and chillies for a couple of minutes.  Throw in the courgettes and stir round to coat with the oil.  Turn the heat down to low and cover with a lid.  Give the pan a shake and a stir every 5 minutes for around 35 minutes, making sure the courgettes don’t catch on the bottom.  Cooking with the lid on will ensure a bit of moisture in the pan.  When the courgettes are really soft, with some chunky pieces and the rest almost pulped, remove from the heat and season to taste.  Add the mint and lemon juice and serve as required.  If using as a pasta sauce it is best to mix it with the cooked pasta before serving with grated parmesan cheese.

Seasonal local food recipe No.234 – River Cafe’s Grated zucchini

A really simple way of preparing courgettes as a side dish. It’s from the classic Italian collection of recipes in River Cafe Cook Book Easy. Quite frankly, it doesn’t make much difference if you omit the standing time.

Serves: 4
Preparation/cooking time: 15 minutes  (+30 mins standing time)

Ingredients
1kg courgettes
½ a nutmeg, grated
2 tbs parsley leaves, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
2 tbs extra virgin oil
Salt and pepper

Method
Wash the courgettes, dry, then grate them on the large holes of a cheese grater. Place in a colander, spread out and sprinkle with salt.

Leave for half an hour to release water, then wrap in a clean towel and wring out the water. Heat the olive oil in a thick-bottomed pan, add the courgettes, nutmeg and garlic, and season. Cover and cook on a medium heat for three minutes. Add the parsley and stir to combine. Drizzle with olive oil and serve.

Seasonal local food recipe No.201 – Hugh’s melon, cucumber and courgette salad with olives and red onion

Camel CSA’s growing skills don’t quite extend to melons, but there are some beautiful ones on sale at the moment at The Vine in Wadebridge. Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall in The Guardian suggests partnering them with cucumbers and courgettes in this side dish. Luckily we’ve got plenty of those.

He says: “All that delicate, juicy flesh is pointed up beautifully by the assertive flavours of olives and onion.”

Serves: 4
Preparation time: 5-10 minutes

Ingredients
½ large cucumber (about 200g)
1 medium courgette (about 200g)
¼ small charentais or galia melon (about 200g)
50g pitted black olives, such as kalamata
½ medium red onion, peeled and finely chopped
Juice of ½ small lemon
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method
Quarter the cucumber lengthways, scoop out the seeds with a teaspoon and slice into thin quarter-moons about 2mm thick. Put the slices in a large bowl. Top and tail the courgette, quarter it lengthways and cut into pieces the same thickness as the cucumber. Add to the bowl.

Scoop the seeds out of the melon. Carefully slice the melon off its skin, then cut it first lengthways into two to three slender wedges, then crosswise, as with the cucumber and courgette, and add to the bowl.

Roughly chop the olives and add to the salad with the onion. Squeeze over the lemon juice, trickle over the oil, give it a good seasoning and stir together gently. Taste, add more salt, pepper or lemon juice if needed, and serve straight away.

Seasonal local food recipe No.195 – Pasta and zucchini (courgettes) alla carbonara

Another quick, easy vegetarian dish for those of us who don’t feel much like cooking on a hot day. It comes from a delightful Rome-based food blog – Rachel Eats. Make it with some Cornish free-range eggs and the courgettes and basil in Camel CSA’s veg boxes this week.

Rachel says this is “a quiet and familiar lunch” which she makes a lot. If the courgettes have flowers attached, they should be washed, patted dry and torn into strips before cooking.

Serves 2
Preparation/cooking time: 10 minutes

Ingredients
200g good dried spaghetti, linguine or fettucine
2 tbsp olive oil
(optional – 60g pancetta or guanciale, diced)
a small red onion peeled and cut in thin half moons
2 medium courgettes, julienned (cut into matchsticks)
2 large fresh eggs
20g freshly grated parmesan
20g freshly grated pecorino
freshly ground black pepper
a handful of fresh basil leaves
good extra virgin olive oil and more grated parmesan for on top

Method
“While your pasta is cooking you fry your onion until golden brown (if you are using guanciale you fry that first and then add the onion and fry for a couple more minutes.) Then you add the fine strips of courgette (and courgette flowers), stir and allow them to wilt. While the wilting is happening you beat 2 whole eggs with some finely grated parmasan and pecorino and plenty of freshly ground black pepper in a small bowl.

“Now, drain the pasta but save a little of the cooking water, then tip the hot pasta and a small ladleful of the reserved water into the pan with the onion and courgette – toss everything together. Next add the egg mixure to the pan along with the ripped basil leaves, remove the pan from the heat and stir everything together firmly but gently so the sauce thickens.”

Seasonal recipe No 61: Courgette gratin

An excellent, tasty recipe from Jamie Oliver’s Jamie Does book.

Serves 6-8 as a side
(half quantities makes a generous main for 2)

Preparation: 35 minutes
Cooking in oven: 40 minutes

Ingredients
2 tbsp duck fat or olive oil
3 onions, peeled and very finely sliced
180g basmati rice
7 medium courgettes, finely sliced
500ml hot chicken or vegetable stock
4 heaped tbsp crème fraîche
150g emmental or cheddar cheese, finely grated
salt and black pepper
olive oil

Method
Preheat the oven to 190C/gas 5. Get a large frying pan on a low heat and add the fat or oil and a splash of water. Once melted and hot, add the sliced onions and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until soft and sticky. Meanwhile, rinse your rice under cold running water until the water runs clear.

When the onions look ready, add the sliced courgettes to the pan along with the rice. Mix them up, then pour in the hot stock. Turn the heat up and cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. You want the mixture to stay quite loose and oozy, so add a little more stock if needed. Take the pan off the heat and gently stir in the crème fraîche and 100g of your grated cheese. Add a good pinch of salt and pepper, then taste and adjust the seasoning if need be.

Lightly oil a roasting tray, gratin dish or casserole-type pan, approx 25cm x 25cm. Tip everything into the prepared tray, making sure the rice is evenly distributed. Roughly flatten it out and try to get most of the courgettes on top to help keep the moisture as it cooks. Sprinkle over the rest of the grated cheese.

Bake in the hot oven for 40 minutes, or until the top is golden and bubbling and the rice has absorbed most of the liquid. Serve next to grilled meat or fish and a lovely fresh salad.

Blackcurrant bliss in this week’s veg boxes …

and peas and cucumber too.

Contents of our vegetable boxes this week are provided by Mark Norman, Jeremy Brown of St Kew Harvest and Camel CSA’s own plot, all of it grown to organic principles.

Small vegetable boxes will have:
potatoes – Pentland Javelin (Mark)
carrots (Mark)
blackcurrants (Mark)
peas (Jeremy)
cucumber (Jeremy)
broad beans (Camel CSA)
salad bags (Camel CSA)

Standard veg boxes will also have:
extra potatoes
mixed courgettes (Jeremy)
marrow (Jeremy)
swiss chard/perpetual spinach (Camel CSA)

The year’s first courgettes in the veg boxes

As we complete our first year of veg boxes, we’ll be getting some tasty treats this week – including beetroot and courgettes from Mark Norman in Bodmin and Cornish strawberries from Treworder Fruit at Treworder Barton, Egloshayle, Wadebridge.

Small boxes will have:
* new potatoes (St Kew Harvest)
* lettuce (Camel CSA/St Kew Harvest)
* beetroot (Mark Norman)
* courgettes (Mark)
Cornish strawberries (Treworder Fruit)
* cabbage/spring greens (St Kew Harvest)

Standard boxes will also have:
* extra new potatoes (St Kew Harvest)
* broad beans (Camel CSA)
* cauliflower (Mark)
* turnips (Mark)

* = grown to organic principles