courgettes in bolognese....

[juicychops]

do you cut them up and put them straight in or do you boil them on their own first?

never cooked them before!!

with that I meant my post

GRATE the courgette in - it's easy peasy

grate it into lots of sauces - added vitamins that kids can't see

Well... Gratin is my absolute fave & I usually make it properly and with love and attention. But I have been known to chuck chopped leeks, bacon & sliced mushrooms in between the layers and drown the lot with a large pot of double cream. Best served eaten straight from the dish, standing up, with a tablespoon.

Yum...I almost never make gratin (why???), sounds like I should welcome it amongst my routine dishes...

yes but seriously, why bother? why not just be honest with food? i don't believe that grating things into an otherwise delicious recipe doesn't change the taste or texture in some way. do you know, i think i Actually Disapprove of this sort of thing, i think if my mum had done that to us it would have made me suspicious of all her cooking... [although rather delighted to find something on MN to formally disapprove of]

lol septimus. best eaten cold from the fridge the following day, standing up and hoping that no one catches you...

Too right Aitch.

Actually, my mum did try to sneak stuff we wouldn't normally eat into her pasta sauces, pizzas and so on. My brother & I always sussed it immediately & turned our noses up. It just seemed so sneaky...

Agree. What's your stance on minestrone? to blend or not to blend?

i don't really like blended soups myself, but that's just personal preference. i do make a rather nice blended parsnip, lemon and ginger one but generally i don't do it. minestrone is just Big Soup, isn't it, so i don't stick to a particular recipe. i love it with borlotti beans and bits of weeny pasta and chunks of veggies. mmmm

and next time try barley instead of pasta, I love it.

haha, it's like you're scottish, we put barley in everything! i love a good orzotto.

I also don't mind your whiskies then.

didn't know you were scottish

och aye!
actually i don't like whisky so they're thinking of throwing me out... in fact, i rarely drink. i used to live in Rome, actually, even got married there. where are you from?

Aitch - do you want my cauliflower soup recipe?

honest really teeny cauliflower florets in the tomatoey sauce of bolognese are yummy.

my mum always does a kinda mousakka but instead of aubergine she uses cauliflour its nice

i always make courgette and feta frittata served with tomato and basil salad so nice

! I actually love caulifrower, it's very good fried with anchovies, black olives, garlic and a bit of oregano (goes well with pasta too)
Aitch, I'm from Milano, def a less romantic destination than Rome, where I actually should start to think to take ds, as he's obsessed with "the romans".
Anyway, I'm more partial to blended whisky, which is fwoned upon by (at least the Italian) whisky experts

frowned

hhhm, cauli and anchovies... that Just Might Work... however i can't see past the classic cauliflower cheese, although i do admit to bastardising it a bit and throwing in some plum tomatoes and big hunks of courgette...

I grate courgette into cocoa muffins and they taste delicious and moist and my fussy toddler loves them - I won't apologise for that!! I am a good cook and it pains me to blend up a tomato and veg sauce to make it palatable to conservative children but I don't think blending is hiding just creating the texture that will get the vitamins in the child.

!

(sorry that was directed at aitch bastardising the cau cheese)
Actually courgette and cocoa muffins... I think I've read about this somewhere else.

don't mess with cauli cheese!!! actually I add broccoli and spring onion to mine and sometimes I use creme fraiche ....

honestly cocoa courgette muffins are the bollocks....