a courgette conundrum & a cake

I have a glut! I’m really quite pleased about this, I wasn’t sure I’d be able keep the plants alive let alone have them so fruitful but here we are! I have courgettes coming out of my ears!

To be exact I currently have 11 on my kitchen counter and this morning counted at least another 15 on the way.

All this from just two plants!!!

So as you might imagine we have been eating courgettes with everything.

So far I have used them in lasagne, made creamy courgette pasta sauce (a big hit in this house), raw and and diced into various salads – I have to say I wouldn’t do this with store bought courgettes, I always find the skin too bitter, home-grown are not at all provided they are cut quite young, – baked parmesan courgette sticks, and of course simply sautéed in butter which is wonderful. (On a separate note – carrots sautéed in butter is just one of the best things. Ever.)

However, all these things can get a bit boring after eating it for 100th time. So I started looking for some alternative recipes. I found various different ideas floating around the internet and had some great suggestions from friends and family so for at least this week I should be able to keep on top of my courgette pile.

For a late lunch today we’ll be having cheesy courgette & bacon muffins, I’ll be doing courgette fritters as a before work meal for Vince tomorrow and a courgette bread on Friday morning.

Hopefully this will keep my bountiful green veg interesting!

(Ooh I just remembered what I was going to ask you! When preparing courgettes the juice/liquid that they contain gets on my hands and dries and I have the hardest time trying to wash it off! I find myself scrubbing at my hands with a nail brush some days trying to get rid of it. It reminds me of dried glue. It’s horrid. Does anyone know of a better way to wash it off or has nobody encountered this problem before? I’d be glad to hear your thoughts!)

Yesterday though I was taken by the idea of courgette cake.

I adore carrot cake and I have a very quick and easy go to recipe, so I started there and worked up.

This recipe makes a really moist & dense cake courtesy of the courgette and I love this. I wasn’t sure about the flavour of a straight courgette cake though, so I’ve given it a lemon twist. It is only a hint of lemon, it is not a lemon cake. But it is just enough to give it a bit of lift in my opinion.

My only note on this recipe is that if you are using shop bought courgettes you may want to peel them first if, like me, you find the skin bitter in taste. Otherwise this recipe doesn’t get much simpler!

If you need to use up some courgette, enjoy!

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