​Courgettes: Ideas for the Summer Glut

With home grown courgettes you turn your back and they have grown into marrows! The best way to enjoy your courgettes is to pick often and pick when they are small. Luckily courgettes are versatile enough that you shouldn't get too bored of them - you can:

• Create ribbons for salads with a vegetable peeler.
• Make long strands with a julienne peeler to accent a dish or stuff a spring roll.
• Grate courgette and mix with grated raw beetroot for a delightful summer side.
• Spiralize courgettes and other veg for vegetable spaghetti.
• Use a mandolin for really thin slices.
• Grow yellow courgettes for colour contrast! They're just as easy to grow but aren't as common in shops.
• Skewer courgettes and rub with a tasty spice mix for delicious summery courgette kebabs

To slow down a courgette glut, eat the female flowers with the small courgettes attached. Courgette flowers are a beautiful seasonal treat! You need to pick them in the morning, let the dew dry off and use them as soon as possible as the flowers will close up. You can eat courgette flowers raw in salads or steam them or stuff them. The traditional filling is soft cheese, but I like filling them with a vegan cashew cheese, herb and roasted red pepper filling, dunking them in a tempura batter and shallow frying. Students on our Advanced Vegan Diploma Course did just this a few weeks ago.

For a summer barbecue I like to roast or barbecue courgettes mixed with haloumi, make a cold courgette soup or eat them raw in salads.

Here are some of my favourite courgette recipes:

• Roasted Courgettes and Haloumi, Sumac and Dill
• Courgette Kebabs
• Onion Squash and Courgette Coconut Curry
• Kolokithopita: Greek Style Filo Pie
• Roasted Late Summer Salad
• Turkish Fatayer Pastry
• Vegan Stuffed Courgette Flowers
• Vegan Chocolate Courgette Cake
• Ratatouille

What are your favourite ways to make the most of courgette season? Let us know in the comments!

Delicious food photography by Rob Wicks of Eat Pictures.

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