receipes/things to do with home grown vegetables gluts

[dreamingofsun]

Could do with some new ideas on how to cook my gluts from the allotment. Some suggestions from me are frying lettuce with garlic/soya; courgette fritters (grated courgette/egg/flour/egg with flavouring such as garlic fried); french beans boiled and then added to fried streaky bacon/onions and a dash of cream.

Please help me make vegetables more exciting with minimal effort as we get bored eating same thing each day during gluts.

Would love to hear what to do with a glut of courgettes!

Have you looked at Riverford and Able and Cole veggie recipes online? they have some lovely ones and a lot are very basic but delicious.

Grated courgettes work brilliantly in brownies and courgette and lime cake is a thing of beauty.

I have the riverford book which i coincidentally just looked at but i'll have a check online to see if there are more. And brownies, yes I'd forgotten about those have a great recipe somewhere (let me know if anyone wants it as its super easy)

If you get a glut of courgettes, you can clean and slice them, and fry them lightly in oil for a few mins, and then cool and freeze in muffin tins, each tin can then be popped out and into a freezer bag. When you come to need something to bulk out winter meals, they still have a little bite and don't go mushy as they would if you froze them without frying them.

@ArcticBells I have a delicious courgette and pasta recipe. The only problem is that it's basically "take courgettes. Add calories." I'll find it.

Use the big outside lettuce leaves to stuff. Wilt them for a few seconds, then add stuffing of your choice and roll up,like vine leaves. Cook in tomatoey sauce, or whatever suits.
courgette fritters are lovely. Stuffed veggies, courgettes, peppers, beef tomatoes and big portobello mushrooms, stuffed with rice or grains, drizzled with oil and roasted in the oven.
dehydrate sliced courgettes for stews.
as well as chutney, I dehydrated tomatoes and made tomato powder, for adding to soups, stews and sauces.

I roast sliced courgettes in the oven with olive oil and garlic- which reduces their volume by about 50%- then freeze. Or make very courgette- heavy ratatouille then freeze.

@CurlewKate Yes please

I haven’t managed to harvest any courgettes, they got bullied out by the bloody cauliflowers which are out for world domination.Even the epic caterpillar population this year haven’t made a dent into production.
while I make a great cauliflower curry, my favourite recipe this year is: ‘Take one freshly picked cauliflower and throw it hard into the nearest compost bin’.

I pickle courgettes, I use a bog standard Good Food recipe (just google it). They're delicious and I love them with sausage rolls but they're also amazing in a cheese buttie...makes me want some just thinking about them!

i make excess beans in to a curry and freeze. Courgettes I grate and squeeze lots of the water out then freeze in circles - these can be used in savoury muffins, casserole, pasta sauce etc. Also google courgette polpette - courgette ‘meatballs’ (mix with things like breadcrumbs and cheese then bake in oven) Hugh FW recipe.

We love this in our house

Braised Zucchini and Leeks Recipe | MyRecipes

I love this and the dc love it. It’s a winner https://www.waitrose.com/home/recipes/recipe_directory/c/courgette_macaroni_cheese.html

I stir fry beans with sliced mushrooms, a little soy sauce and garlic and add cashews towards the end.

Oh also…Easy courgette pasta: put generous amount of mayo in a bowl with lemon zest, maybe a bit lemon juice, minced garlic and Parmesan (or save Parmesan to end if not everyone likes it). Make V Thin strips courgette - eg using a peeler (or grated if easier). line a colander with the strips. Cook pasta and drain it through the colander to ‘cook’ courgette a bit. Mix everything together

This is amazing, albeit quite fattening. 😋

camel-csa.org.uk/2010/09/10/seasonal-recipe-no-61-courgette-gratin/

Not made but it but this also looks good for a courgette glut!

www.theguardian.com/food/2023/jul/17/parmigiana-recipe-courgette-mozzarella-parmesan-layered-bake-rachel-roddy

I made mountains of Nigella’s courgette and feta fritters last year and froze then. We only used up the last few a couple of months ago! They’re delicious and freezing does not impact the flavour or texture.

Good luck.
I have been know to resort to courgette Battenberg, with courgette chocolate cake, courgette cake, courgette jam and courgette juice replacing the egg white in the marzipan. Obsession is not good.

I used up my veg glut by making Japanese style tempura veg. Slice the courgettes (0.5 cm), potatoes (thinly), carrots (diagonally to get bigger slices), dip the slices in tempura batter and shallow fry in hot oil for a 1min so they were not cooked through. I then froze in mixed bags. When ready to eat, pop frozen into the oven/air fryer; because they were pre-fried, they will crisp up. Serve with dipping sauces eg soya/hoisein/korean bbq. They also make a great side dish on its own.

You can also make Korean veg pancakes with any veg, just julienne or chop small, add beansprouts, spring onions, grated ginger and garlic. Tip into a savoury pancake batter, mix well and cook as usual for pancakes. Shredded cabbage works well this way.

If you have potatoes, have you tried stir frying them? Cut as for chips, stir fry with garlic, a sliced onion, and crumble over a chicken stock cube. Add a little water as needed for the potato to cook through and to stop it sticking to the pan. I made up this recipe after hearing someone in a kdrama say they liked stir fried potatoes the best.

After making the mistake of growing 12 courgette plants last year and eating courgettes for 9 months, this year I only have two!

I’m not the biggest courgette fan but this soup is divine!! It’s from Ottolenghi Simple
http://kahakaikitchen.blogspot.com/2019/08/zucchini-pea-and-basil-soup-by.html

I also love the courgette, cumin and lime fritters in the book From The Veg Patch - it’s 10 veg chapters, 10 recipes per chapter, had it’s a gift the first year of my patch and it’s really lovely.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Veg-Patch-favourite-vegetables-delicious/dp/1529107962/

cooked beetroot, broad beans and goats cheese salad with a bit of dressing added is lovely.

There's an amazing ottolenghi recipe which is green beans and mangetout tossed with toasted hazelnuts and orange zest, it also works really well with any other beans.

Jamie's courgette, parmesan and lemon pasta is delish. In extremis, I make courgette and lime cake (divine but not healthy at all!).

I make a lemon drizzle cake with courgettes, I make it in loaf tins and then slice and freeze. It works well