Uses for courgettes?

[RainOrShine]

My neighbour keeps giving me courgettes from his allotment.  Which is extremely kind of him, but I am running out of interesting ideas for them.

I've found a veggie lasagne somewhere downthread, but does anyone have some good ideas (as meat accompaniment, or as meal in their own right) for courgettes?

Thanks!
RoS.

[tiermat]

Have you got a compost bin? Adding to the compost mix is the only useful thing I can think of, but then again I do find courgettes and Aubergines 

[Che]

Love 'em both. Disliking aubergines, in particular, is incomprehensible to me.

[ScumOfTheRoad]

Our 'lady who does' made some pakora with sliced courgette the other day.
Truth be told, it isn't that great.

[Wowbagger]

You need to contact Phil. He makes cakes from them.

I haven't heard whether he smokes them as well though.

[Chris N]

Using a veg peeler, peel thin slices along the length of the courgette so you end up with something a little like fat courgette tagliatelle.  Fry gently in olive oil for a few minutes with some finely chopped garlic and serve with pasta, topped with parmesan.  Use one medium courgette per person as it cooks down quite a bit.  Yum.

[Julian]

Diced and added to tomato sauce for pasta

Stir-fried with butter

Microwaved to 'parboiled', then push the middle out using a teaspoon, and stick a soft-but-not-quite-cooked carrot through the middle, slice into beautiful rounds of carrot-stuffed courgette

Courgette cake (of course)

Cut in half lengthwise, scoop out the middle and combine the middle with

* breadcrumbs & grated cheese
* brown rice & raisins
* Potato & diced onion

then return filling to courgette and bake until crusty

Mmmm... courgettes...   

[nutkin]

Courgette & tomato tarty things:

3 sheets of filo pastry per tim
cherry toms
courgettes
fresh basil leaves
eggs
milk
Black pepper

Grease the flan tins well. Cut the filo pastry sheets to size, so that they completely cover the base of the flan tins, arranged so they are all at slightly different angles and form a spiky edge. Tear the basil leaves and cover the pastry base. Layer sliced courgettes and toms alternately. Whisk together the eggs and milk, then pour this mixture over the toms & courgettes, until the flan dish is nearly full. Add freshly ground black pepper. Cook for around 15-20 mins at gas 5 or 6.

Sorry, I can't give units, I usually just mix up the eggs and milk according to the size of the flan dishes - large or 5" individual ones.

[andygates]

Fritata (posh euro-omelette).  Slice and fry up a courgette and some other veggies (I go with peppers, a bit of onion, maybe a stick of celery).  Pour on eggs and milk, turn down the heat and slowly cook until set.  Top with cheese (fresh parmesan!) and grill.

[blackpuddinonnabike]

Mel made a gorgeous courgette soup the other day from some of our crop...

[ABlipInContinuity]

Maffie made a lovely veggie bolognese with our first home grown courgette

[ChrisO]

All of the above sound lovely. And courgettes are also very nice as a salad accompaniment or side dish, simply sliced and fried until golden brown then drizzled with lemon juice and some grated lemon peel.

However, I have a fantastic way of using as many courgettes as your neighbour could possibly grow. Indeed you'll be able to look him in the eye and say "Is that all ?"

You need a large saucepan, and preferably something heavy-bottomed so that you can cook slowly for a long time.

Few cloves of garlic and an onion or two, sliced.

Take the courgette mountain - really as many as you can into the pan - and dice them into reasonably smallish pieces about 1cm square.

Good slosh of oil and some butter into the pan at medium heat. Put in the onion, garlic and couple of handfuls of courgette, enough to cover the base and sautee until they start to brown and the onion begins to go transparent.

Add in the rest of the courgette, give it a couple of minutes while stirring it occasionally then reduce the heat quite low and cook it for like an hour or more, maybe two depending on how many courgetts you started with. Basically until the whole thing is reduced more or less into a mush. It doesn't look spectacular but it has caramelised and it tastes gorgeous. Add a good amount of parmesan, season and serve with some nice fresh pasta.

Courgette growers, do your worst...

[Phil]

Courgette cake:

Ingredients
    * 250g butter, nuked until soft
    * 450g sugar
    * 4 eggs
    * 350g self raising flour
    * 2 squirts lemon juice
    * 1-3 tsp cinnamon (to taste, I used plenty)
    * 2 tsp ground ginger
    * 1/4 nutmeg, grated
    * 350g courgette grated - large side of the grater is fine
    * Handful of any dried fruit


Method
1. Grease and line a loaf tin with greaseproof paper. Preheat an oven to 180°C (170°C for fan ovens).
2. Place the butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time while mixing until the eggs are well incorporated.
3. Mix the spices into the flour. Fold 1/3 of the flour into the batter, followed by 1 squirt of lemon juice, repeat this using the remaining flour and lemon, so that all the ingredients are well combined.
4. Stir in the courgette and fruit.
5. Pour the mixture into the loaf tin and place on the centre shelf of the preheated oven. Leave the cake to cook for about an hour and a half or until the cake has a decent crust.  Turn the cake out on a rack and allow to cool.

It's delicious

[geraldc]

Let them grow into marrows. Hollow them out and wear them as hats.

[Charlotte]

Let them grow into marrows. Hollow them out and wear them as hats.

Only works if you're a cat:

[Nienke]

Courgette soup is one of my favorites, and very simple. Just fry bits of onions & courgettes (about 1/3 - 2/3) until 'translucent', as they say in cookbooks, add milk (not too much, it's nice to keep the soup thick) and some bouillon powder, salt and pepper, simmer for a bit, then blend. Yum.

I am intrigued by the cake, never heard of that before. OTOH if carrot and pumpkin then why not courgette. May have to give it a go as I'm a big fan of the other two

[bobb]

My dad has always has tons of corgies to give away. I've taken to eating them raw. Probably a little incorrect, but I like 'em that way!

[Regulator]

Either raw in a salad with a nice raspberry vinegar dressing...

...or baked whole/in large chunks sprinkled with cumin seeds.


 

[geraldc]

Let them grow into marrows. Hollow them out and wear them as hats.

Only works if you're a cat:

That's a Pomelo skin, not a marrow rind.

[Pete]

They're an essential ingredient in our chickpea couscous.  Also in the beany ratatouille (coupled with aubergine).  And we also slice and thread them onto skewers, along with other veg., tuna and prawns, for brochettes.

But quite honestly I think they're just as good just served up plain as a veg.  And they're so easy to prepare and to cook.

Phil, I remember your courgette cake from a FNRTTC two years ago!    And we tried the recipe.  Superb!  But we haven't got a very good crop this year.

[Hello, I am Bruce]

Take them off the plant when the flower is still attached (the courgette will only be about 1cm thick).  Stuff the flower with brie, coat the whole thing in thin batter and deep fry.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

Dildo?

[RichForrest]

Dildo?

I did wonder who would be the first to post that answer.

[rogerzilla]

I'm amazed it made page 2 before going NSFW.

[nuttycyclist]

Have you got a compost bin? Adding to the compost mix is the only useful thing I can think of, but then again I do find courgettes and Aubergines 

I was going to agree, they're both flavourless wastes of space... but then I saw Kirst's reply