Space and time garden - Courgette (zucchini) glut? My favourite recipes

It's about time we recapped on how the space and time garden is coming on.   The strawberries are lovely and we've eaten then on their own, in an Eaton mess and they have also been made into jam.  The tomatoes are okay but not ready just yet and the potatoes are looking very healthy.  I'm expecting good potato crops in a month or so.

Now at this very moment we are getting some lovely courgettes.  Every day we have some available for picking and I've been getting my thinking cap on for easy tasty, cheap as chips recipes that'll use use the daily glut.  Here are my favourites......

Courgette and ricotta lasagne

Olive magazine from many moons ago had an easy peasy lasagne recipe that can be put together in minutes and will help with the glut as it uses 2 large courgettes.  I make double as it freezes well and to save money and make it even more delicious I will make both the pasta and the tomato sauce myself.  I also add a few spices to the ricotta to add an air of Middle Eastern mystique to the dish.  1/2 a tea spoon of mixed spice will suffice and if feel it really lifts the dish.

Stuck for time? The basic recipe is so easy and tastes just great click HERE to see quite how simple it is.

Simple 'ratatouille'

Simple, simple, simple.  Get that overgrown courgette that has been hiding underneath the leaves threatening to become a marrow!

1.  Cut courgette into bite sized chunks (you choose the size of the bite!) fry off with a chopped onion and as much garlic as you fancy (1-2 cloves)
2.  whilst this is frying get a tin of plum tomato and squirt of tomato purée and some Italian style herbs and stick in a bowl or jug.  If you've got a blender waz it up of if you haven't a masher will do the trick.
3.  when all the veg are soft add the tomato sauce into the pan and simmer until it's lovely and thick.

It's you're choice you can add flavourings and spices in during the cooking stage.  A drop of balsamic vinegar and a mild chilli can an extra zing to this if you fancy it.

I find this is a great base for a number of meals and will freeze well although courgettes will be slightly mushier after freezing.

Apple and courgette chutney

I don't need much excuse to create a preserve but a glut of courgettes is the perfect excuse to make  this lovely chutney recipe I found online.

I use an amended version of one devised by mannmunchies Food blog.  I'm not a fan of cloves so always sub them.  Mine is always much lighter in colour than the pictures on the blog and takes longer cooking time but it's delicious.  Click HERE to take a look

Quick and easy courgette fritters

Simple and easy recipe that takes 2 minutes.  Grate 2 large courgettes put in a colander with some salt and leave for half an hour.  In a separate bowl add 2 whisked eggs, 50g of plain flour (works well with gluten free),  a pinch of pepper, a pinch of turmeric, one teaspoon of garam masala, 50ml of milk.  

Rinse the courgettes really well to remove the salt and then squeeze out all of the water.  Then mix the courgettes into the other bowl.  

In a frying pan put a tablespoon of oil, put a desert spoon of the mix and flatten it down.  Shallow fry on a medium heat until brown on each side.  The mix makes about 12-16 fritters depending on size.

Serve with Indian style dips or some sweet chilli sauce. 

Finally I've got a confession, I really really want a Spiraliser.  One of my colleagues has one and I just really want one and it'd be a great way to use up my courgettes.  My decision not to spend unnecessarily rules out this purchase for now but I'm definitely asking for one for Christmas.

A bit of totally unnecessary kitchen appliance drooling below! If Amazon or Andrew James want to send me one of these to test I'd be very grateful!

LINK to Spiraliser I really need!!!