Courgettes and gooseberries

[PamT]

If last year is anything to go by, our allotment will soon produce mountains of courgettes and gooseberries and I get so bored of the usual recipes, has anyone got any ideas?

For gooseberries I haven't really progressed beyond pies, crumbles and fools. As for courgettes, I've tried them baked, stuffed,fried, stir fried, grilled with tomatoes and cheese, in fritters, stews and I even found a recipe for courgette cake (tastes a bit like carrot cake).

I've found the BBC recipe search web site quite useful in the past but would welcome any different (but must be easy) suggestions.

PamT....I have an excellent recipe for very ripe gooseberries. Pick, wash, dry and put in box and mail to SofiaAmes for immediate consumption.

BTW, I don't know why we grow the courgettes, the kids and I don't really like them and DH can only take so many. It is wonderful to see a plant produce so much fruit though, even if we can't give it away by August. The gooseberries were inherited but at least they freeze well so there is no rush to use them.

I also love courgettes. My latest craze is to cut them in half short way, boil them just a little (til you can pass a knife through, but definitely not soggy), then remove from water, slice into chunky (1/2 inch) slices and dress with lemon juice, extra virgin olive oil and salt. They're really nice this way hot, room temp or cold the next day.

SofiaAmes, you'd need to come and pick them yourself, they have evil thorns on them, they even manage to stab me through gloves. I only give them away to those who have endured the pain of picking. We're picking around 5lb of strawberries every day right now too and have a fridge full of sugared strawberries, summer pudding (yes, made with strawberries) and strawberry jam. I'll be looking like a strawberry soon. I wish the fruit could all be ready in a steady stream over several months rather than a hectic two weeks and then nothing for the rest of the year. At least the rhubarb carries on for several months (from March to August -ish).

PamT, where do you live....I need an activity for this weekend....
How are your strawberries this year? I've found the ones in the supermarket and even the ones my dh bought yesterday from a farm in suffolk, very tasteless. Last year they were great.

Courgette soup is delicious and uses up quite a lot.

My favourite thing to do with courgettes is to cook them with tinned tomatoes, garlic and herbs for a while until they are a kind of rataouille and serve with Sunday Lunch

MMmmmmmm

PamT you could also try searching by ingredient on recipezaar

SofiaAmes, the strawberries have plenty of flavour, though they do benefit from a little sugar (naughty but nice). They never seem to last very long though and need to be eaten within 48 hours - such a chore I don't know how they make the shop strawberries last so long because ours seem to go squidgy and mouldy if they are left too long, I can only assume that shop ones are treated in some way or maybe picked whilst unripe and then artificially ripened like bananas are. Its a shame you are so far away from Yorkshire otherwise I'd have had you picking them for me.

SueW, we did some tumbling tomatoes last year which produced plenty of fruit but we haven't got any this year. We've got some melons in the greenhouse, it sounds like yours might have fallen victim to the slugs like one of my courgette plants did. Have you ever tried vegetable spaghetti? Its a type of squash which when cooked you can fork out all the flesh and it forms strands like spaghetti, DS1 loves it.

Thanks for the recipe ideas, I'll have to give the soup a go.

Pam, I have a great recipe for courgette and spinach soup, it looks like pond slime but is delish (and I loathe spinach!)
I could copy it out for you if you like? (It's from Cranks Veggie Restaurant cookbook.)

Shot any cats yet?

Pam T - I'm in Yorkshire - so if you want any picking/eating doing then just let me know....!!

You can make a great pasta sauce from fresh or tinned tomatoes, garlic and washed sliced courgette blossoms.

janh, no I haven't shot any cats yet, though I feel like it sometimes. Unfortunately we don't grow spinach so the soup recipe wouldn't really be much good. Whilst we have got our own fruit and veg I try not to buy any more from the shops even when this means having courgettes yet again in some shape or form.

Enid, I've never used the courgette blossoms before but I have seen cookery programmes where they have been deep fried in a tempura batter. This looked interesting but we don't deep fry any more since I threw the fryer away when I couldn't be bothered cleaning it out (it wasn't very healthy anyway).

Pam - I meant with the water gun - not a real one!

I'd like to take a real gun to them sometimes. At least I don't have to listen to them howling all night like my friend down the street does, both her neighbours have she cats who attract all the local toms for a bit of nocturnal activity, then there are all the jealous cries and fighting from the frustrated ones, or the she is howling because she has had enough etc. The sex life of a feline appears to be a very noisy one.

The blossoms are lovely, they have a delicate courgetty flavour. Just cut them into strips (removing the hard stamen) and chuck them into a tomato sauce for a few mins.

Enid, does removing the blossoms stop the fruit from growing? Or is there a critical time to pick the blossoms?

I've got a recipe for corgette & cocoa muffins somewhere...

PamT, you can eat the male flowers (they have the stamen bit sticking out), just leave a few to make sure the females are pollinated (they have little baby courgettes behind them) - unless you want to eliminate as many courgettes as possible!

Florenceuk, so what we are saying is that the males of the species have only one use - pollenation...... Thanks for the info.

Soupdragon, I like the sound of courgette and cocoa muffins, if you find the recipe I would love a copy please - is it short enough to post on here or do you need my email address?

Firstly, Soupdragon, please post us the recipe for the cakes - don't leave me out!!

There's a good american website called allrecipes.com, and you'll probably find hundreds of courgette recipes, although they call them zucchini over there.

Although the recipes come up as american measurements, there is a converter that automatically changes quantities to metric. You can also alter the recipe to feed 2 or 10 or 20. It's clever stuff.

I'll scan it in & have the scanner translate it to text so I can just copy & paste it here.

It will have to be tomorrow though, I'm off for a laze in the bath and then bed. Sigh

Courgette loaf (by Mary Berry - The Ultimate Cake Book)

Makes 2 x 2lb loaves (but I do mine in a lined square lasagne dish and it comes out ok). The end result is a lovely moist cake, similar to carrot cake. It is even better if you are able to leave it to chill for a few hours before tucking in.

3 eggs
275ml/9floz sunflower oil
350g/12oz caster sugar
350g/12oz courgettes (grated)
165g/5 1/2oz plain flour
165g/5 1/2oz buckwheat flour (I used brown)
1tsp baking powder
2tsp bicarbonate of soda
1tbsp ground cinnamon
175g/6oz raisins
150g/5oz chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas4. Grease & base line 2 x 2lb loaf tins with greased greaseproof paper.
2. Measure all ingredients into a large bowl and mix well to make a thick batter. Pour into prepared tins.
3. Bake in pre-heated oven for about 1 hour or until the loaves are firm and a fine skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Cool the cakes a little before turning out and leaving to cool completely on a wire rack. Store in the fridge and use within 3 weeks.