Saturday 3 August 2013

Courgette and mozarella pasta bake

I haven't posted much about my veg box for the last few weeks because we have been mainly ordering the salad box. During the recent heatwave we could only really face salad! Now that the British summer has returned to whatever passes for normal these days, we are back to "proper" veg.

Courgettes, (known as zucchini in most countries), have been featuring heavily recently. Usually I have to hide or disguise them in some way - DD is not a fan. However, as she is away at camp at the moment, I decided to let them take centre stage with a Hugh F-W recipe available here.

It is a simple pasta bake. Don't be deceived; it takes a fair while to make as you have to gently soften the courgettes for half an hour. It needs a good amount of seasoning otherwise it is a little bland but would probably be really tasty with some added sun-dried tomatoes, bacon or chorizo. I have never bought sun-dried tomatoes; I must find a method of making them which works in the British unpredictable climate.


One of the main selling points of this recipe is that it uses about one courgette per person; very handy in a glut!

9 comments:

  1. I don't think I could get away with using one courgette per person here as mine have grown to mammoth proportions in the rain we have had recently! Thanks for the recipe though, as I am always looking for more ways to cook a courgette - they are such economical veg when you grow them yourself!

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    1. At what point do they become marrows?! I would grow them here, but I don't really have the space. We tend to focus on veg and soft fruit that we will all eat, such as beans or raspberries.

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    2. Sometimes I only catch them on the cusp of turning into marrows! Any really big ones are chopped up and fed to the chickens, who love them. But my average courgette here is bigger than the average supermarket courgette, in my experience. I have six plants in an area about 2m x 2m, and they are producing well this year. I haven't resorted to courgette cake yet, but there is always that to fall back on. We grow lots of beans too - love them! I've also got strawberries, raspberries, lettuces, spring onions, beetroot, and potatoes in the garden, with tomatoes, cucumbers, chillies, and peppers in the greenhouse. xxx

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  2. Hi Lesley thank you for this recipe - as you know I have been thinking about the veg box for a while but my lovely husband isn't too well at the moment and off his food again. I couldn't manage to eat it all but it is still something on the agenda when his appetite hopefully picks up. When my children were young I would have definitely been interested in having one but in those days these didn't seem to exist which is a shame. Have a wonderful Sunday Lesley, good luck with the nomination.
    Lots of love
    Dorothy
    :-)xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

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  3. That looks great. My daughter won't touch zucchini unless it is in sweet bread.

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    1. My daughter is exactly the same, but there is only so much courgette loaf we can eat!

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  4. Lesley, the recipe looks yummy! Have you tried grating the zucchini and then mixing in quiche ingredients and cooking it as you would a quiche? I used to make it for my family with some success :) [a way to avoid using pie crust]
    Gracie :)

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    1. Gracie, a confession: I have never cooked a quiche! Maybe it is time that I tried. We do eat the shop bought variety, so it would be worth a go. Lesley x

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