Let's be 'aving your favourite courgette dishes then.
Especially for those overgrown monsters that hid under the leaves.

Three of mine to start.

Salad: Raw courgette, julienned into matchsticks, mixed with chopped chilli and garlic, in a lemon dressing with lots of chopped mint.

Cut into batons, browned in a wok with chilli & garlic, add spinach to wilt and finish with a swirl of balsamic vinegar.

Shaved into ribbons with a potato peeler, use like pasta, blanched or raw.

I was going to say shaved into ribbons with a vinaigrette and fresh sliced chillies.

Ratatouille, roast mediterranean veg, sliced and stir fried with toasted almonds.
For those big boys - slice in half, remove seeds, stuff with chilli con carne, sprinkle cheese on top and bake.

I was going to say julienned and used like spaghetti.

I make a quick mushroom sauce with garlic and a smidge of chicken stock and make it creamy with Philadelphia, then bung in the courgettes and cook for a couple of minutes.

I have also been thinking about using the mandolin to make thin slices and using it like lasagne sheets but haven't got around to that one yet.

I tried out this recipe yesterday. It was very tasty, and suitable for oversized courgettes.

http://tessward.com/courgette-pizza-...zo-and-chilli/

Basically it's a stuffed courgette using pizza-style ingredients.
Hollow out halved courgettes, spread with tomato paste and chopped garlic, olives and chilli. Bake for 15 minutes in a hot oven.
Add chopped chorizo and grated cheese, and bake for another 10 minutes.

Endless scope for variation - you could start with pesto instead of tomato paste, and add ham instead of chorizo.
Or barbecue sauce and use bacon bits.
And so on.

Courgette and cheese loaf

75g butter, 200g courgettes ( weighed after topping and tailing) 225g SR flour, 1 teasp. salt, ½ teasp. each of cayenne powder, mustard powder, 125g tangy grated cheese, 3 large eggs, 4 tablesps. milk

Preheat oven Gas 4 / 180. Line a 2lb loaf tin with baking paper. Melt the butter, allow to cool but not solidify. Grate the courgettes. Sift the flour, salt , cayenne and mustard powder into a bowl, and stir in the cheese. Lightly beat the eggs, milk and melted butter together, and add this to the bowl along with the courgettes, and stir until just evenly mixed. Put mixture into loaf tin, level off the top. Bake about 60 - 70 mins. Cool on a wire rack. Best left one day before eating, and nice on its own or spread with soft cheese.

Wow, that sounds quite nice. You don't have to squeeze the liquid out of the grated courgette then?

Obviously, they're good in curries, risottos, couscous, quiches, tarts etc and courgette fries a re very popular now.

These are nice:
http://www.accordingtoelle.com/crust...zucchini-bites

You could use them in gratins and parmigianas:
http://www.kalynskitchen.com/2011/07...hini-bake.html

and with rice (besides risotto) etc
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/s...ion-rice-torte
http://www.houseandgarden.co.uk/reci...and-courgettes
http://www.jamandclottedcream.co.uk/...e-nigella.html


I also grate courgettes (squeezing out moisture, as suggested above), carrots, potatoes, onion, add some cheese and seasoning and press mixture into greased muffin tins to make vegetable fritters.

This recipe from BBC Good Food - Courgette & Walnut Loaf is very easy to make and absolutely delicious. I've made it 4 or 5 times.

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2...ette-loaf-cake

Added to chocolate cake - cant't post link but lots on net.

About half amounts of roughly chopped courgette and mushroom. Fried in olive oil with added herbs and crushed garlic until moderately cooked. Soft, but not charred. Cooled, and eaten as a picnic food along with cool pasta, couscous salad, bean salad, and other foods eaten cool.

Spinach and courgette soup.

It's courgette week (even though it's Thursday!) on BBC Good Food. See Home Page carousel
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/gui...-do-courgettes
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/pastry-less-pork-pie

Picked the first courgette yesterday from my accidental courgette plants (bought them as cucumber plants ). It was huge and I peeled and slice it and added it to my mince & tatties dinner. Stirred in with the carrots, it looked really pretty. The courgettes absorbed the flavour of the gravy and OH didn't even notice it!!

I made some courgette fritters last night. Lots of varying recipes online and I haven't tried it before, so I just made a little thick batter and stirred in lots of grated courgette. Having salted, drained and squeezed to get as much water out as I could!

I added chilli, garlic, some lime zest and plenty of salt and pepper. They weren't bad - well, they all got eaten - but they were a little on the bland side. I did hold back a bit on the chilli as one of the group is a bit timid with hot stuff.

I will definitely do them again, and am thinking of ways to spice them up.
Will try them with cheese added, and perhaps some curry spices.
Suggestions welcome!

Courgettes are tastier cut lengthwise and griddled or bbq'd to create stripes, which create flavour. Search for zucchini antipasto recipes. This one appeals to me.

http://goop.com/recipes/grilled-zucc...int-red-chili/

Cut each zucchini in half crosswise

Arrrgh! That really grinds my gears. "Zucchini" is plural.
I do wish they would call them courgettes if they can't get that right.

Here's a correct usage:
Zucchino, mint and chilli pizzetta

This is a very similar recipe to the one I use http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/6...courgette-cake rather delish I always think.

I'm a bit like that with "panini". I'm not quite enough of a dick to go into a café and demand a panino, but I'm not far off.

This is for the smaller ones, it's probably not original, somebody must have thought of doing it, but it had begun as one of my 'What's left in the fridge' recipes.

Remove any blemishes from courgette's skin, cut it whole in small cubes, also cut one red bell pepper in small pieces, one red chili, too. I am not fussy, I keep the seeds in. Cut one clove of garlic in small pieces, put on a side. Heat up a pan, a higher heat, but not at maximum, put in olive oil (last time I used an olive oil infused with chili. The result was hot like a devil, just the way I like it ), put in courgette and pepper and chili. Season with black pepper, thymian and last time I also added something that was sold to me as Provencal herbs. Do not salt. Cook for about 5 minutes, stirring it occasionally. Add the garlic and cook one two minutes. You could add it at the beginning, but I do not like when it goes brown and bitter. Add soya sauce. Stir it quickly as a liquid evaporates, it will coat the pieces nicely. It adds the missing salt, too. The soya sauce adds a fundament to the taste, to me it does not feel as "hungry" as a dish with just vegetables in it. I made it today to go with a steak, but it works very well alone just as it is.

That's very similar to one of mine, briefly described in the opening post. The one with spinach added at the end instead of peppers at the start. I use balsamic vinegar, but will give your version a try with the soy sauce.

It reminds me of a simple ragout I haven't done for a while. Everything is yellow. Stew chunks of yellow courgette with yellow peppers cut into 2cm squares, and yellow cherry tomatoes. Season to taste with whatever floats your boat.

Courgette time again! Anyone got anything new?

I suggest Greek Courgette Pie from Sarah Raven's Garden Cookbook.

Also I would recommend the book, although the recipe is easy enough to find online.

This is really nice
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/c...dar-soda-bread
Works well with gluten free flour and oats as well and substituting natural yoghurt for the buttermilk.

Also love courgette and feta fritters,lots of recipes around but the Hairy Bikers is a good one.

I shall try that. I've just found a huge yellow monster hiding under a leaf.


I'll take a look at that. Just making some now, loosely based on Nigella's recipe.

I haven't really found the perfect recipe. They're not easy to get right, the proportions need to be right, and the flavouring. I wish Felicity Cloake in the Guardian would have a go at them.