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Courgettes galore!

8/11/2015

2 Comments

 
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My fridge is full of courgettes, so is the cool cupboard.  Even extra shelves in the garage are full of odd shaped, too round, too long or just too odd excuses for courgettes, green & yellow shapes of nutty deliciousness! Actually, there are even courgettes piled up beside my ironing basket.  It's difficult to say which there is more of, courgettes or ironing.  Happily for the courgettes (and for me), I hate ironing and love cooking courgettes.  Anyone who has even just 1 or 2 plants will know just how abundant these generous plants can be.  They seem to produce a never ending supply.  One of the reasons we have so many in the house is also because when friends come to dinner, they bring with them generous amounts of their own courgette harvest.  They smile, knowingly, when they are served courgette soup with courgette fritters, stuffed courgette with feta and pine nuts & to finish, courgette and ginger pudding.  Yes, there can be too much of a good thing!

If you are looking for a little inspiration, look no further, some of these suggestions may help!

Raw courgette salad
Before you even lift a pan, try grating some firm, small courgettes into a dish and dress with olive oil and sherry vinegar, with salt & pepper to taste.  Alternatively, just use a potato peeler to obtain lovely long but very thin strips. Try adding some very finely sliced red onion, toasted pine nuts and feta.  It's very good with a poached egg surprisingly, but I tend to say that about almost anything. It is perfect with some very lightly cooked salmon or even smoked salmon as a starter.  Add some chilli if you will.

Steamed Courgette & pea cake
We often have this instead of Yorkshire puddings on Sunday, it's massively moreish and endlessly versatile. Pour a little oil into each cup of a muffin tin and grease well. Find a roasting tin that the muffin tin will fit into.  Boil the kettle. Preheat the oven to 200.  Roughly chop 100g of courgette, blend in a food processor with 70g frozen peas, thawed, with the juice of one lemon , 2 tbsp. vegetable oil, good chunk of peeled and chopped root ginger with 120ml water.  Stir in 140g Gram flour,  1/2 tsp. salt,1 tsp. baking powder & 1 tsp. bicarbonate of soda.  Divide the mixture between the muffin tin and place the tin inside the roasting tin.  Carefully pour the hot water into the roasting tray so that it comes half way up the muffin tin.  Cover loosely with tin foil.  Place into the oven for 15-20 minutes until risen and reasonably firm.  Serve hot or cold, on their own or with almost anything else, even roast beef!

Deep fried courgette flowers and baby courgettes
One of the tastiest ways to serve courgettes and their flowers is to coat them in a light batter and deep fry!

16 courgette flowers or baby courgettes
175g/6 oz plain flour
110g/4 oz corn flour
1 egg
Approx. 250 ml/8 oz fizzy water, chilled
Salt
Sunflower oil for frying  

Method


  • Half fill a pan with the oil and put on to heat.
  • Mix the corn flour, flour, salt, and egg together.  Add the water little by little stirring all the time to avoid lumps.  The thicker the batter the thicker the flowers will turn out to be.  For a thinner batter, add more water.  This batter does not need to rest and should be used at once.
  • Make sure that the flowers are free of any insects by tapping against a sink gently (or leaving in a dark place over night), but do not wash.
  • Coat the flowers in the batter and then drop into the hot oil taking care not to add too many at a time as the oil will cool down.  Remove and drain on kitchen towel.  Repeat until all of the flowers have been cooked.
  • Serve at once with chilli jam, some fresh lemon juice or soy sauce.

Courgette fritters
These are my children's absolute favourites!  So easy to make although I often end up munching on them as I batch cook them!

Ingredients


Serves 4
2 free range eggs
5 tbsp. milk (approx.)
25g/1 oz butter, melted
110g/4 oz plain flour

2 courgettes, roughly grated

2 scallions, finely chopped
110g/4 oz cheese, e.g. feta/cheddar/gruyere/mozzarella
1 tbsp. fresh chives, finely chopped
Zest of a lemon
Olive oil for frying
Salt & pepper

 For the Tzatziki:
1 fresh cucumber, washed and coarsely grated but not peeled
2 plump cloves of garlic, crushed
2 tsp. lemon juice
600ml/1 pint organic natural yoghurt
2 tbsp. finely chopped fresh mint

Method
  • Whisk the eggs with the milk and melted butter.  Slowly whisk in the flour and season well.
  • Squeeze the courgette well once it has been grated, to get rid of any water it may contain.  Stir the courgette into the batter mixture with the scallions, lemon zest, cheese and chives.  Combine well together.  Adjust the seasoning as necessary.
  • Heat some oil in a large pan.  Pour in small spoonfuls of the batter depending on what size you would like the fritters to be, and fry for 1-2 minutes either side.  The fritters should puff up slightly and appear golden.
  • Remove to a plate with some kitchen towel and continue frying until all of the batter has been used. 
  • Mix all of the ingredients together for the Tzatziki, adding salt and pepper to taste.
  • Serve the fritters hot with the Tzatziki.

These are just a few ideas so far. Possibilities are endless, try courgette bread or cake, pickled courgettes, courgette jam, frittata, soup, barbecued, stuffed, chargrilled...just go on and on!






2 Comments

Marvellous Mackerel!

7/13/2012

1 Comment

 
For years, I have been be-moaning the fact that there wasn't a fish monger in Enniskillen and although Asda & Tesco offer a wide range of fresh fish, you just don't get that shopping satisfaction you do when you're in a specialty shop.  I love being able to patiently browse and have someone there to answer my questions instead of bluffing their way through it. So now, hurray, we have "Molloy's fish market" (www.molloysfishmarket.co.uk) at 23 Belmore Street.  This is an exquisite little shop with brothers Shane & Conal their to help with any query you might have.  Their fish comes directly from their family business in Killybegs and the counter is stuffed with everything from coley, salmon and whiting to John Dory, squid and languostine.  The prices are amazingly competitive.

I know from having run a cookery school for long enough that as an "island nation" people tend not to put fish on their priority shopping list.  Is it mainly the bones that put people off?  Is that why the most popular fish is the fish most easily filleted, salmon, monkfish and cod?  Or perhaps it's the price. Whatever it is, it's a shame.  As a standard, we eat too much meat and as far as chicken goes (as a nation we eat more chicken than beef), a lot of it is bad quality and "sadly" if not badly reared (or GROWN as many producers put it which is another sadness).  Right now is a great time to be eating fish, mackerel in particular.  It's a cheap fish, easily filleted but has quite a lot of bones.  Pin bone them with a tweezers if you're very patient, if not, cut the central bone sleeve out once filleted.  It must be VERY fresh or the texture and flavour will really change and not for the better.  They actually freeze very well but only do so if they really are fresh.  Freeze whole complete with guts(!) and make sure to wrap them in greaseproof paper then clingfilm and finally in tin foil.  It's really the only way to keep them fresh enough to enjoy 3 months later.

This is a lovely recipe that I concocted the other night.  It's really yummy and probably good enough to serve to your friends.  It would also be worth making a few to have in the freezer.  Don't forget the 3 wrapping layers though!

Mackerel with basil, peas & garlic wrapped in Parma Ham
This recipe makes a sort of mackerel ballotine with two fillets sandwiching an aromatic filling and then wrapped in Parma ham.  You can use any fish really and also any type of filling, so swap anything you like!

Ingredients
Serves 4

8 mackerel fillets, completely boned and skinned
8 slices of Parma ham or similar cured ham
Small handful of basil, finely chopped
110g silvered almonds, toasted and cooled
1 clove garlic, finely sliced or grated
50g uncooked baby peas
2 tsp. anchovy paste
1 tbsp. rapeseed oil plus some for frying
Salt & pepper

Method
  • Start by mixing the filling ingredients in a bowl.  Stir the basil, almonds, garlic, peas, anchovy paste and oil together.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.
  • On a clean board, lay 2 slices of Parma ham out, one slightly overlapping the other.  Lay one mackerel fillet in the middle but slightly off-center.  Season lightly and then spread a spoon of the basil mixture over the fillet.  Lay another fillet on top.
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  • Wrap the mackerel fillets relatively tightly and neatly to form a sort of roll.  Chill or freeze until needed.
  • Remove the mackerel rolls from the frdige about 25 minutes before cooking to come back to room temperature.
  • To cook, preheat the oven to 190C/375 F/gas5.  Heat a pan with a little more oil and fry the fillets for about 2-3 minutes per side.  Finish in the oven for about another 4 minutes.  Allow to rest before slicing and serve with sliced new potatoes and baby peas or a tomato salad. Delish!
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1 Comment

For the gluten free glutton and friends! (Melting moments with lucious chocolate center)

5/29/2012

0 Comments

 
I'm always on the look out for really nice gluten free recipes.  Not just because a number of my friends avoid gluten like the plague but because it's a real challenge!  You have no idea just how much gluten affects the textures of baked foods until you try to cook without it.  It's also a real pain for those who are longing for that delicious slice of white bread (that used to make them very sick) or a crumbly, buttery cookie.  Bread I will tackle another day but here is a really easy recipe for melting moments with a chocolate butter filling.  They are perfect for after dinner with coffee but also delicious if you ignore the filling and just dust them with icing sugar!

Gluten free melting moments with chocolate
Ingredients
Makes about 14 depending on the size of the dough balls you make!

150g/5 oz corn flour
150g/5 oz gluten free self-raising flour
225g/8 oz butter
50g/2 oz icing sugar
1 large tsp. lemon zest

For the filling:
50g/2 oz butter
110g/4 oz icing sugar
1 level dessert spoon cocoa powder

Method
  • Preheat oven 160C/325F/Gas3.
  • Mix all the ingredients for the melting moments in a food processor or food mixer until it comes together in a dough.
  • Roll into small marble sized balls and place on a non- stick tray or lined tray, well apart from each other as they spread.
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Bake for 10-12 minutes in batches and cool. The biscuits shouldn't be allowed to brown too much on top or they will taste quite bitter.  Also, try to be patient enough to leave them on the baking tray long enough for them to firm up, otherwise they will fall apart when you try to move them!
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  • Mix the filling ingredients together until very smooth in a food processor (if it's a small bowl - there's not enough mixture for a large processor bowl) or use a whisk and mixing bowl.  Using a teaspoon or piping bag, sandwich the biscuit halves together.  Dust with icing sugar. Store in an airtight container in a cool place for up to two weeks.  They are even better a few days after making!
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They are really delicious and you can't necessarily tell that they are gluten free which can only be a good thing!  Use this dough to make tart cases and all sorts of flavoured cookies.  It's a good all round base to have in your repertoire!
Lizmoorecooks.com
29-05-12
0 Comments

    Author

    I've been cooking for roughly 20 years now and I still dream about food.  I think about it in the morning, afternoon and last thing at night too.  I marvel at the different combinations, the ones I know about AND the ones I haven't discovered yet.  What a great world!

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