Courgettes like triffids - help! Recipes please, advice on freezing.....

[liath]

I am being over-run! I love courgettes but the kids won't eat them. I was thinking of grating them and freezing them in bags to add to stuff like cottage pie. Will they freeze like that do you reckon? And any good recipes gratefully received.......

Lol MTA, when we were overrun with courgettes from 4 plants one year, someone 'in the know' about these things said to us, if you've got 4 courgette plants you've got 3 too many! So we only planted one from that year on.

how about courgette and prawn cous cous.....very quick, very cheap and very very yummy!!!!

1. put 250g cous cous into a bowl and cover with hot water
2. cHOP SOME FRESH MINT and add to the cous cous to infuse
3. Meanwhile, lightly fry the courgettes until browned and then chop into the cous cous
4. stir fry the prawns and add to the cous cous

Dinner done - 5 mins!!!!!

I also add asparagus or whatever else I have left over.....courgette goes very well though!

Am going to try the courgette cake recipe..sounds lovely!

Ive got 6 plants and so far am not overrun, have had on average 2 every other day-so grated courgette in everything. will it get worse?

oooh I love courgettes.

right

courgette carbonara
Jamie Oliver recipe, basically chop them to penne size, fry up the pancetta, add teh courgettes, cook. then add the mixed egg yolk, cream and parmasan mixture and mix with cooked penne. Lush.

Courgette rosti
A fave. Grate, potatoes, courgette, parmasan and onion. Mix and then fry spoonfuls of mixture in flattened ball shapes. Yummmmmmmmy, good for dcs.

Stuffed courgettes
Boil them whole until soft, scoop out middle, fry onion til soft and mix with tuna (and whatever) add in courgette that you scooped and mix them pop back into courgette sprinkle on chedder and roast til all melted and gorgeous. drool.

I think I've put these all on mn recipes.

creamy courgette lasagne is good - have also done a courgette risotto cake but can't remember where I got the recipe from.

Thanks so much everyone! I'll be putting these recipes into action ASAP.

I don't think I'll be planting 8 courgette plants again next year, though . At the moment few people manage to visit the house and escape being given a "present" of courgettes!

Wish I'd read this earlier - my mum was here and I know she used to do a really nice thing with grated courgette and cream. Sounds rank I know, but was actually very nice. If I remember I might call her 2moz and ask her.

I'll be trying the brie and courgette soup, like the sound of that, but unfortunately will have to buy the courgettes

Might try growing some next year. Just 2 you say?

EIGHT!!! you planted EIGHT and tehy are all doing well (faints in shock)

have you thought of contacting Tesco?

I do the same thing with runner beans - eveyr year i say 'SIX is enough' and every year I can't bear to throw away the other baby plants so I plant them all and then have billions of them, half of them so huge and tough you can file your nails with them. Well, saves eating them.

Oooh, I've just thought of another recipe. We had this in Italy and it was a perfect summer salad dish. I don't have a recipe so I've made this up but it works a treat.

Use a veg peeler to make strips lengthways down a courgette (with the skin on). Add some lemon juice and grated rind to the courgette strips. Add some crushed garlic. Season. Leave to marinade for a few hours in the fridge. No need to add dressing as the lemon juice serves that purpose. Serve.

I do the Add-to-any-pasta-sauce thing, but the courgette-brie soup and the courgette rosti sounds good too. Especially since our potato crop is as abundant as the courgette harvest!

I also give them to the chickens and any visitor.

My african cleaner asked for a few courgette leaves and pumpkin leaves the other day. She fries them and apparently it's very nice. She didn't know what to do with the courgettes I gave her, though!

Courgette chutney

this recipe works for me.

Also, if you slice them very thinly and cook over a very gentle heat with some olive oil and garlic until all the water evaporates but without letting them go brown they turn into a delicious almost puree which freezes well and can be used as a base for soup (add stock/milk) or souffle or pasta sauce (mix with some cream and parmesan) or just as a vegetable on the side.

IME it is better to cook before you freeze or texture goes funny.