And The Winner Is...

Well, the results of the Great British Summer Courgette Recipe Competition are now just in - and, I must say, I've been having some fun cooking and tasting. What's more, there is a clear winner!

In final place comes Mister Roy with both his recipes (sorry, Roy, but someone had to come last!) His marrow-cum-courgette koan dish was just too, er, metaphysical (OK - I admit I didn't make this one), and his courgette lasagne, substituting strips of courgette for the pasta layer, didn't actually work, I'm afraid. You could just about get away with it by mopping up the juices with some garlic bread - but, after all, you really can't mess about with a classic Italian dish such as lasagne. I mean, the pasta is there for a purpose, n'est-ce pas?

In 3rd place comes the long-distance-walking, cheese-and-onion-pastie-loving Peewiglet (check out her website for her amazing pix of scrumptious Corsican dishes). Her simple, wholesome and - it must be said - very tasty courgette omelette, made of free-range eggs, was absolutely fine, as omelettes usually are - but just lacked that certain pizazz to wow the judges (me, that is).

Closely behind our winner comes Weaver Of Grass with her inventive courgette and garlic mash thickened with parmesan and crème fraiche, and served with pasta - very tasty indeed, and I liked it a lot. (Apologies, Grassweaver, but I didn't have a marrow highly developed enough to make your other dish.)

But 1st place has to go to Rebekah Scott over at Big Fun In A Tiny Pueblo. Her grated courgette, garlic and parmesan fritters, bound together with eggs and breadcrumbs, and served with garlic mayonnaise, were sensational! The contrast between the crispy outside, and the soft, succulent texture of the courgette and breadcrumb mixture inside, was simply perfect. (I've some more in the fridge just waiting to be fried and eaten.) So congratulations to Rebekah. I'll be making her Spanish albergue a definite stopping place next time I'm on the Camino...

The combination of courgette, garlic and parmesan is definitely a marriage made in heaven.

Thanks again to everyone for their recipe suggestions - I had such fun!

Zucchini Hell

What to make of the simple courgette!/If you feed it the corpse of a pet/This humble zucchini/Will grow from just teeny/To a dirty great marrow, you bet.

Ha! I see the last foodie post has provoked more comments than all my philosophical and religious ramblings!

You know how I wrote a few weeks ago that everything has its downside? Every thesis its antithesis? Every boom time its credit crunch? Every glut its shortage, and every shortage its glut? Yes, you can indeed have too much of a good thing. Thanks to one and all for the recipe suggestions, but this courgette eater is now heartily sick of courgettes and is lobbing them into the freezer. The courgette and basil soup was the final straw. It was very strong-tasting, as I think I overdid the basil. And the pulpiness of the courgettes gave it a sickening, glutinous consistency - rather reminiscent of wallpaper paste. (It wasn't a patch on my other speciality 'green' soup - spinach - which is really nice.)

The pic shows a courgette that got away (zucchini Houdini?) and was heading towards marrow status until I twisted it off the plant just now. Could this be a marrini or marrette?

Courgette Heaven

Help! The courgettes are growing larger by the second. We've already had them in a tomato sauce with home-made beefburgers; on chicken kebabs; in a tomato and lentil soup; in a cottage pie made of fresh butcher's mince, onions, garlic, worcester sauce, chopped tomatoes, tomato purée, basil, oregano, seasoning, beef stock, and topped with creamy mashed potato sprinkled with parmesan cheese; and simply sautéed and made crispy in olive oil. (As you can gather, we're rather fond of tomatoes round here. Oh, and courgettes too, of course.) You have to pick courgettes when they're young, firm and succulent - as with beans - otherwise they turn into marrows (not the beans, the courgettes). Has anyone any more creative recipe suggestions?

The pic shows part of our vegetable garden and you can see sweetcorn, courgettes and runner beans.