A Summer of Courgettes

It's been a whole two years since I last posted here, but the past few weeks' insane courgette production has forced me to come up with so many different things to do with them, that I thought I'd share a couple of super simple, quick little courgette recipes that I've been making. You'll notice they contain almost identical ingredients, because that's what's in season right now!

I love me some courgettes, and this year I've grown two varieties - the classic, green ones you can buy in supermarkets (I think we've got 'Ambassador'), and a beautiful Italian-style, yellow, globe variety ('Floridor') which not only look amazing, they taste it too. If you pick them when they're about the size of a cricket ball, you can use them exactly as you would a standard courgette, and they're ideal for the first recipe below. If you leave them to get a bit bigger, the seeds grow too, and they become a bit more squash-like, so they're perfect for scooping out and stuffing like a marrow (I did them with a vegan mushroom stuffing, which I might also share soon), but they're so much more flavoursome than a marrow, and they haven't got that gross wet texture that marrows have.

Griddled (or BBQ'd) summer veg with basil drizzle
This first recipe is a cooked dish, but as Rowan's been away this past week I've been making myself enough to have half warm for dinner and the rest cold for lunch the next day. It's best done on a griddle pan or BBQ, to get those tasty charred lines on the veg, but a frying pan will do fine. It's delicious either way. I've been using the globe courgettes for this one, but it's just as good with normal ones sliced lengthways. It looks like a lot of steps, but it's actually dead simple.
Serves 2

Ingredients
for the drizzle 
A good handful of basil leaves, (approx the amount in those little supermarket bags should do it, or around 40 leaves)
1 small clove garlic
Juice of half a lemon
Extra virgin olive oil
approx 1tsp sea salt

for the veg
1-2 globe courgettes, sliced into 1cm thick rounds
1 red pepper, cored and quartered, then cut in half horizontally to make chunks
Handful of french beans, topped and tailed
10-12 ripe cherry tomatoes, halved
1 large clove garlic, peeled and finely chopped or crushed
10-12 pitted olives, halved (kalamata or nocellara are my favourites, but use whatever you like)
Olive oil 
Sea salt and black pepper

In a small bowl, mix together 2 or 3 tablespoons of olive oil with the finely chopped garlic, a pinch of sea salt and a good grind of black pepper, and set aside to allow the garlic to infuse the oil a bit while you make the drizzle and prepare the veg (this will be the oil you use to cook the veg).

Next, combine basil, garlic and lemon juice in a different bowl with the pinch of salt, and add a good slug of the nicest olive oil you've got (better olive oil = better flavour) and blitz it all up with a stick blender (or blend them in whatever manner works for you). Test the consistency - you want it wet enough to drizzle, so if it's too thick or dry, add a little more oil or even a little cold water. Cover and leave to get all delicious while you prepare and cook the vegetables.

Cut up your veg as suggested, then use a pastry brush to apply a little of your garlicky oil (try to get some of the garlic bits on there too) to one side of the courgette slices before placing each on your hot griddle pan in one layer - they all need to be touching the griddle, so you probably won't fit all the slices in at once. They should sizzle as soon as you set them down. Allow them to cook for a couple of minutes on this side, until you can turn them over and see good, dark char lines and the flesh is looking softer. You want them to be almost burned. Brush the top sides with more oil and flip them over to cook on the other side. Remove cooked slices to a  large dish or plate, and do the same with the pepper, leaving some of the oil mix to toss the beans in. You can really burn the pepper skin to get it super tasty. Cook the beans in the same way, allowing the last of the garlic bits to cook in the pan with them, until they're softened but retain just a little bite - I find shaking the pan, or stirring them, rather than trying to turn each individual bean makes things easier!

Chuck (or nicely arrange, depending on how fancy you're feeling) it all in the same dish, with all the cooked, blackened garlic bits from the pan, and add the tomatoes and olives, before drizzling with plenty of the basil dressing. Serve hot or cold with good bread to mop up the juices, or on a bed of quinoa or brown rice.

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Courgettes in lemon marinade
This simple little number came about when I really had to eat some of the courgette glut while Rowan was away, but I needed something I could prepare in the evening before going to yoga, so I could eat as soon as I got back. It was a super hot day and I really didn't want to be standing over the cooker or using the oven, so I decided this might be a good way to have the courgettes raw. It's dead easy, and can be served as a courgette-only side, but I've added some suggestions to make a full meal and use up some more allotment gluts!
Serves 2

Ingredients
2 courgettes, thinly sliced into discs
Zest and juice of one lemon
Sea salt and black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil

Lay your courgette slices out on a wide dish or plate, then use the fine side of a grater, or a lemon zester, to grate the lemon zest all over them. Now squeeze on the juice, ensuring you cover as much of the courgettes as you can, and sprinkle all over with a pinch of salt and a good grinding of black pepper. Cover with a pan lid or foil to keep in the moisture and keep out the fruit flies, and leave for an hour or two (no longer or it will get soggy).

When you're ready, drizzle over a little good olive oil, stir it all up and serve as is for a side dish, or wilt some spinach/chard/beet tops in a pan with olive oil, finely chopped spring onion, a pinch of salt, nutmeg and black pepper and mix together with the courgettes, some steamed broad and/or French beans, some halved cherry tomatoes and some torn basil leaves. The veg is so fresh tasting that it goes well with roasted, skin-on new potatoes - I recommend cooking them with rosemary and garlic for extra tastiness!

Low-Gluten Rye-Pastry Mince Pies

It's mince pie time! I adore Christmas pastries; as a student coming home from college at Christmas I anticipated my brother's amazing home-made sausage rolls so much that I could almost smell them as my train pulled into Gloucester station. As these are no longer an option (what with me being veggie n' all), my dad has taken over the responsibility with Delia's unbelievably delicious veggie 'sausage' rolls. But oh! mince pies. Lovely, lovely mince pies. Each year I almost forget how good they are until I open the previous year's half-used jar of mince meat and it all comes flooding back in a delicious, Christmassy fug.

Home made mince pies are a gazillion times better than any shop versions. Mass-produced mincers are a constant disappointment of overly dry and crumbly pastry and too-sweet filling, and they're always, always, far too big. A mince pie shouldn't be too deep; no more than a teaspoon's worth of mincemeat should fill it up and, in my opinion, the pastry should always be savoury and somewhere between shortcrust and flaky. I favour a simple mince meat with little to no residual booziness; glacé cherries are a no-no and I prefer it nut-free, though the occasional almond is nothing to be sniffed at. A mince pie with icing is not a mince pie, it's the work of the devil. And screw the best before instructions on shop mincemeat - use within 3 months of opening?! Hell, no. Mince meat is much better for a year's maturing - all that sugar and booze will keep it well preserved.

                                                                                                                                                                          (c) Becca Thorne

These rye pastry mincers came about this weekend after I volunteered my pie-making services for the opening of our friends' new shop (in Broadmarsh, Nottingham - Dukki Gifts on the first floor - check them out!) and, as one of them has a wheat/gluten intolerance I thought I'd try making some that he could enjoy too. Rye flour is low in gluten (but not gluten-free, so not for coeliacs) and has a pleasingly wholesome, nutty flavour. Combining this virtuous flour with butter (instead of veg lard or marg) helps lift the flavour to provide a richness that seems thoroughly unwholesome without overpowering the flavours of either the rye or the mince meat. As rye flour is rather grainy I added a tablespoon of gram flour to help everything hold together a little better. You'll find the raw dough a little off-putting - it looks (and feels) like a ball of concrete, but once cooked it goes a tasty-looking golden brown and is surprisingly delicious.

You can make plain flour pastry versions in exactly the same way, just replace the rye with plain flour and omit the gram.

You'll need a mince pie tray (the one I used had 15cm wide moulds) and two fluted cookie/pastry cutters, one for the bases and a slightly smaller one for the lids (I used an approx 7cm and approx 6cm pair).

Makes 15 small mince pies

Ingredients

6oz rye flour

3oz cold, salted butter, cut into approx 1 cm dice

1 tbs gram flour

cold water

Mincemeat (make sure it's made with veggie suet, double check there's nothing else meating it up or introducing any extra gluten if these are for someone with a gluten intolerance)

Milk for brushing (I used Koko)

Caster or demerera sugar for dusting

 First, make the pastry. Mix the rye and gram flours together in a bowl, then rub the butter into the flour using your thumbs and first two fingers. It will start to create a breadcrumb-like consistency. Make sure there's not too much loose flour left, but don't rub all the butter in fully - leave some lumps so that as the pastry cooks it will flake and puff a little. Add cold water a little at a time, and initially combine with a knife so you're not handling the dough too much and melting the butter - you need less water than you'd imagine, so go carefully, don't let it get soggy or gooey. Once the mix looks like it's coming together, get your hands back in there to form a tight ball of dough, then wrap it in cling film and stick it in the fridge for at least half and hour. It can be left overnight if you wish.

Pre-heat the oven to approx 200C/gas mark 6-7. Lightly grease your mince pie tray with butter (use the butter wrapper, you don't need much).

Lightly dust a clean, smooth surface with flour and roll out the pastry to about 1-2mm thick. Don't worry too much if edges crack and it seems much heavier and less elastic than normal pastry - this is just because of the lack of gluten. Use the cookie cutters alternately to cut out lids and bases until you have the right amount for your tray. Any leftovers can be pressed back together and re-rolled to make more if you like.

Take the larger rounds and gently press them into the pie moulds, ensuring they're fairly straight (if they're too wonky, the mincemeat juices will run out as they cook and burn onto the bottom of the pan, which creates an unholy mess that's impossible to clean up and ruins your pie.) Then use one teaspoon to scoop out mincemeat from the jar and a second to portion it out. A teaspoonful should serve two pie cases. It may seem like it's not enough but, it spreads out as it cooks. When each case is filled, brush one of the smaller rounds with milk and place it, milky side down, onto a filled case, gently pressing around the edge to secure it to the base. Do the same with all the rest, then brush each top lightly with milk and sprinkle with a little sugar. Using a sharp knife, poke a small hole in the top of each one and wiggle the knife gently from side to side to enlarge it a little. You may need to hold the lid lightly with one hand to stop it coming unstuck.

Place in the centre of the oven and bake for 10-15 mins or until they've gone golden brown on top and the bottoms are firm.

Immediately remove from the pie tray (you might need to use a knife to pop them out) and allow to cool on a wire rack. Get the fairy lights up, make some mulled wine or cider, and scoff the lot.