Any good recipes for courgettes?

Question

I have recently discovered that I love courgettes, but the only way I have cooked them so far is by chucking them in a stir fry or curry, or steaming them? Does anybody know of any nice (relatively easy) recipes?

Answer 1

:
Bacon, Courgette and Red Pepper Frittata
2 tbl Olive oil
250 gm Unsmoked back bacon, de-rinded and diced (8oz)
2 med Courgettes, sliced
1 x Red pepper, deseeded and sliced
1 bn Salad onions, sliced
6 x Eggs, (size 3)
2 tbl Freshly chopped parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method :
1. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and cook the bacon for 5-6 minutes, until golden brown, stirring occasionally.
2. Add the courgettes, pepper and salad onions and cook for a further 3-4 minutes.
3. Break the eggs into a jug and beat together with the parsley and seasoning.
4. Pour the egg mixture into the pan and cook over a medium heat for 5-6 minutes until the underside is golden.
5. Place the pan under a preheated hot grill for a further 3-4 minutes until the frittata has set and the top is golden.
6. Transfer to a warmed plate and serve immediately with a crisp green salad.
NOTES : A delicious supper dish, based on a traditional omelette. Can be served hot or cold with a mixed leafy salad and crusty bread.

Cheese Stuffed Courgettes ( Zucchini Ripieni)

:

6 x plump courgettes about 13cm long
1 x salt and pepper
25 gm white bread crusts removed soaked in 2 tablespoons milk
125 gm Ricotta or curd cheese
1 clv garlic crushed
1/4 tsp dried oregano
40 gm grated Parmesan cheese
1 x egg yolk

Method :
Parboil the courgettes in boiling salted water for 5 minutes; drain.
Cut in half lengthways and scoop out the centres; chop finely.
Leave the shells on one side.
Squeeze the bread dry reserving the liquid and mix with the chopped courgette and remaining ingredients; add a little of the reserved milk if necessary to give a spreading consistency.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Fill the courgette shells with the mixture and arrange in a well oiled shallow baking dish.
Cook in a preheated moderately hot oven 190 degrees C (375 degrees F) Gas Mark 5 for 35 to 40 minutes until tender and golden.
Serves 4

Courgette and Feta Gratin

[Reset] Keys : Casseroles Rice Vegetables Vegetarian Cheese
Ingredients :

2 1/2 cup long-grain rice cooked
1 cup feta cheese crumbled*
cooking spray
4 cup courgette sliced
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 tsp dried mint flakes
1 dsh ground nutmeg
3 lrg eggs lightly beaten

Method :
1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. Combine rice and 1/2 cup feta cheese in a bowl, and press into a l0-inch quiche dish or pie plate coated with cooking spray. Steam courgette slices, covered, for 5 minutes. Press courgette gently between paper towels until barely moist. Combine courgette, 1/2 cup feta cheese, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl, and arrange courgette mixture evenly over rice.
Combine mint flakes, nutmeg, and eggs, and stir well with a whisk. Pour over courgette mixture. Bake at 375F for 40 minutes.
Yield: 8 servings.
Notes: I was pleasantly surprised at how good this was. Will make again.
Made a few changes from the original recipes as follows:
* I used low fat feta cheese instead of the regular to reduce the fat content even more.
Instead of Mint and Nutmeg I used Hot Sauce (quite a few dashes) and a few red pepper flakes. Sprinkled a little paprika on top, but will use my Blackening spice blend next time.
NOTES : This was a dish I tried last year, and have just recently made it again. It's really very good.

Answer 2

I have two ways of cooking courgettes really nicely:

a) as part of a dish of oven-roasted Mediterranean vegetables
Chop up courgettes, onions, peppers, new potatoes, mushrooms, tomatoes - any veg. which isn't going to go too soggy - into fairly large diced cubes (or whatever you can be bothered to do!). Mix, and put into a roasting tin. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar to taste. season with a touch of salt, if that's your poison, and lots of freshly ground black pepper. I grind the pepper in a mortar and pestle - it makes it taste gorgeous. Add fresh herbs of your choice - rosemary, basil and oregano work well. Put in a medium heat oven (I usually put it on about 170C) for about an hour, or until the vegetables are roasted through. Serve.

b) Barbied courgettes
Take an entire courgette, and halve it, lengthways. Scoop out the seeds in the centre. Fill the centre of each half with a mixture of a hard and softer cheese - I find that Cheddar and mozzerella works well. Sprinkle with a touch of smoked paprika. Put the two halves of the courgette back together, and wrap tightly in foil.
Cook on the barbecue until the cheese has melted and the flesh of the cougettte is soft.

Enjoy!

Answer 3

Riz Tian
it's a recipe from my grandma :

- 250 g rice
- 2 big courgettes
- 200g creme fraiche
- 2 eggs
- lot of gruyère cheese
- ham (cut in small pieces) (facultative)
- olive oil
- pepper, muscade, salt

1. cook the rice in a lot of water
2. put some olive oil in a pan, when it's hot, add some pepper and the courgettes cut a small bits. cook them, but not to long, they have to be still a little hard under your fork
3. break the eggs in a big bowl, add the cream, muscade, pepper. Stir well (like if you do an omelette)
4. add in the bowl the ham and cheese
5. in a dish put the rice, the courgettes and the sauce, stir well
6. add some cheese on top of it
7. put in the oven and let cook until the cream is solid

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And if you prefer, this is one of my own recipe :
Stuffed Courgettes :

Cut the courgettes in half on the long side
Remove the inside

In a pan, with olive oil, pepper and herbes de provence, cook some meat (like the one you put in burgers)

When the meat is cooked, add the inside of the courgettes in the pan.

When it's cook, filled the courgettes with that mix meat-courgettes.

Add some cheese and olive oil on the top
And cook in the oven until the cheese in mlted and golden

I do that recipe with corgettes, tomatoes and big mushrooms. I do the same thing for all the vegetables, and in the pan, I add all the inside of the vegetables to the meat.

Bon appétit !!

Answer 4

Fry some onion in olive oil. Slice a couple of courgettes and chuck them in. Cut up an aubergine into larger chunks and add. Let them sweat for 5 minutes then add a tin of chopped tomatos with herbs and a veggies stock cube. I also add dried herbs like oregano, basil and marjoram but thats up to you. Let them cook down until they're as you like them - al dente' or soft. Add half a spoon of sugar at the end if they're a little on the bitter side.

Answer 5

Cut into round slices and fry with onions and garlic until soft but not mushy , then leave to cool, add some olive oil / salad dressing = cold courgette salad
Slice thinly and layer in an oven proof dish with slices of aubergines and potatoes ( individual layers, 2 of each) inbetween layers, drizzle some double cream with crushed garlic in - bake in oven for 40 (ish) minutes.
Add to home made kebabs.
Cut into cube and add to bolognese, or other tomato based sauces.

Answer 6

spicy courgettes



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Ingredients:


1 tablespoon of oil,
3 shallots, finely sliced,
397g (14oz) can of chopped tomatoes,
3 cloves of garlic, crushed,
2 teaspoons of root ginger, finely chopped,
1/2 teaspoon of chilli powder,
4 courgettes, sliced.
Salt and freshly ground pepper.

Garnish:


Fresh coriander leaves

Method:


Heat the oil in the wok until it is almost smoking, stir in the shallots and cook for 5 minutes.
Stir in the tomatoes, garlic, ginger and chilli powder – bring to the boil, simmer uncovered for 20 minutes until thickened.
Stir in the courgettes, season with salt and pepper, cook for 5 minutes until the courgettes are just tender.
Serve hot or cold, garnished with coriander leaves.

Cooking time: 30 minutes

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Serves: 4-6

Baked Courgettes


When very small and very fresh courgettes are used for this recipe it is both simple and delicious.

Almost any cheese could be used, mild cheese however such as cheddar or goats cheese will be allow the flavour of the courgettes to be appreciated.

Ingredients

8 Small courgettes
about 450g/1lb 15ml/1tblsp olive oil plus extra for greasing
75-115g/3-4ozs cheese cut into thin strips
Small bunch fresh mint finely chopped.
Ground black pepper


Method

1. Preheat oven to 180Oc/350OF/gas mark 4. Cut out 8 rectangles of foil large enough to encase each courgette and brush each with oil.

2. Trim courgettes and cut a thin slit into the length of each one.

3. Insert pieces of cheese into the slits. Add a little mint & sprinkle with olive oil & black pepper.

4. Wrap each courgette in foil, place on baking sheet and bake for approximately 25 minutes until tender.

Answer 7

When making a savoury quiche/flan, slice the courgettes length ways or slice them into rounds and mix them with the rest of the filling.

Or steam/boil them, let them go cold and slice them up to go in a salad.

When roasting a joint of meat, put them round the edges of the joint, or in with the roast potatoes.

Answer 8

Slice them length-way into 3 and pop them under the grill. Drizzle some olive oil and grill to perfection.

Also goes great with aubergines done cooked in similar fashion.

Answer 9

I like to quarter them, then very thinly slice the quarters into long, thin, noodle-like strips. Then I very lightly sautee them with a little olive oil. After cooking them, I toss them with salt, freshly ground black pepper and a little grated parmesean.
I serve them as an alternate to a pasta side dish. You can also cook them as above, but instead of tossing with salt, pepper and cheese, toss them with marinara sauce and fresh basil.

Answer 10

Courgettes in batter deep fried as a side dish i think its called zucchini?