Stuffed courgette

Tags

baked vegetables, courgettes, lunch, mince, stuffed vegetables, Veal

These stuffed courgettes are typical fare in France and especially in the South of France. There are numerous recipes for these famous stuffed vegetables, but this is one of my favourites. As we enter summer here in the northern hemisphere, we are starting to see all the typical summer vegetables start to arrive at the local weekly markets and courgettes are one of the most abundant and my favourites. I have used round courgettes here but you can use large beefsteak tomatoes, onions and aubergines too, it’s sometimes nice to stuff an assortment of vegetables this way, so your guests have a choice of which vegetable they prefer.

I made the stuffing in advance, assembled it all and popped it in the oven for 45 minutes once my lunch guests had arrived.

I used veal mince but you can use beef, pork sausage or ground chicken or even if you are vegetarian, omit the meat and add some cooked rice or quinoa in its place.

Serve these delicious stuffed vegetables with a green salad and a crusty baguette to mop up the juices and a glass of wine. voila – perfect, simple summer lunch.

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4 round courgettes
1 tablespoon olive oil
400g / 15oz ground veal
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1/2 red or yellow pepper, chopped
2 tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon herbs de Provence
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 180C / 360F
Cut the tops off the courgettes, keeping them to use as lids and using a pointed spoon, hollow out the centres of the courgettes and keep the flesh
Place the courgettes in a baking dish and set aside
Heat some oil over medium heat in a sauté pan
Add the onions and peppers and cook until soft and translucent
Add the garlic, courgette flesh, tomatoes and meat and allow to simmer for 10 minutes
Add salt, pepper, cumin and herbs
Spoon the mixture into the courgettes and place the tops back on top of the courgettes Drizzle a little olive oil over and around the stuffed vegetables and bake for 45 minutes, or until well browned and the vegetables are soft, but still holding their shape
Serve hot or at room temperature
Enjoy!

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Briam – Greek roasted vegetables

Tags

courgettes, greek, marrows, passata, potatoes, tomatoes, vegan, vegetables, vegetarian, zucchini

 

This is a Greek summertime favorite recipe. Crispy and fluffy potatoes, sweet, flavourful aubergines and juicy courgettes garnished with fresh herbs form an amazing vegetarian dish full of Mediterranean flavours.  The vegetables are coated with olive oil, flavoured with sweet onions and garlic and then baked to perfection.  You can even serve it hot or cold.  This popular dish is traditionally eaten with feta, but it’s also delicious with pork or lamb. Simply delicious!

Serves 8

Ingredients:

• 150 ml / 2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 large aubergine , halved length-ways, then thickly sliced
• 1 large onion, thinly sliced
• 3 garlic cloves, sliced
• 600g / 1.3 lbs potatoes, peeled and cut into 5mm / 1/4″ -thick slices
• 6 medium tomatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
• 12 cherry tomatoes
• 4 courgettes, sliced
• 300g / 10oz tomato passata (strained tomato sauce)
• 1 tbsp dried oregano
• 2 tbsp flat-leaf parsley , finely chopped
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper

 

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 200°C /400°
Heat some olive oil in a sauté pan over a medium heat
Add the onion and garlic to the pan and sauté for 5 minutes, until softened
In a large ovenproof dish spread the potatoes out in a single layer
Season with salt and pepper
Layer on the aubergines, courgettes, tomatoes
Add the onions and garlic
Pour the passata over the top, followed by the olive oil
Sprinkle with oregano and parsley and season generously with sea salt and ground black pepper
Cover the roasting tin tightly with foil and bake for approximately 30 minutes
Remove the foil and bake another 30 minutes or until the top has browned and vegetables are tender
Allow to cool slightly before serving
Enjoy!
If the vegetables have released a lot of juices, carefully pour them off into a wide pan and boil rapidly until nicely concentrated in flavour.

Pour back over the vegetables and leave to cool slightly before serving.

 

Ratatouille – two ways: easy, oven baked and classic

Tags

Aubergine, courgettes, fiesta friday, oven baked, peppers, ratatouille, tomatoes, vegetables

The secret of a good ratatouille is to cook the vegetables separately so each will taste truly of itself.

— Joël Robuchon, The Complete Robuchon

Ratatouille is usually served as a side dish, but may also be served as a meal on its own (accompanied by pasta, rice or bread) or even topped with a fried egg. Tomatoes are a key ingredient, with garlic, onions, courgette, aubergine, bell peppers, basil, bay leaf and thyme, or a mix of green herbs like herbes de Provence. Ratatouille can be eaten for dinner, but is also used in breakfast and lunch settings. There is much debate on how to make a traditional ratatouille. One method is simply to sauté all of the vegetables together. Some cooks, including Julia Child, insist on a layering approach, where the eggplant and the zucchini are sautéed separately, while the tomatoes, onion, garlic and bell peppers are made into a sauce. The ratatouille is then layered in a casserole – eggplant, zucchini, tomato/pepper mixture – then baked in an oven. A third method, favored by Joël Robuchon, is similar to the previous; however, the ingredients are not baked in an oven but rather recombined in a large pot and simmered. When ratatouille is used as a filling for savory crêpes or to fill an omelette, the pieces are sometimes cut very small. Also, unnecessary moisture is reduced by straining the liquid with a colander into a bowl, reducing it in a hot pan, then adding one or two tablespoons of reduced liquid back into the vegetables.

Similar dishes exist in other cuisines: pisto (Castilian-Manchego, Spain), caponata (Sicily, Italy), briám and tourloú (Greek), şakşuka and türlü (Turkish), lecsó (Hungarian).

American chef Thomas Keller popularized a contemporary variation, confit byaldi, for the 2007 animated film Ratatouille^.

The ingredients are the same no matter which version you wish to make.

 

Serves 6

Ingredients:

1 medium aubergine (eggplant)
3 medium courgettes (zucchini or squash)
700 g / 26 oz tomatoes, canned or fresh (if fresh, peeled and deseeded)
1 red pepper, diced
1 green pepper. diced
1 large onion, diced roughly
2 garlic cloves, crushed (optional)
1 tablespoon dried basil
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preparation: Oven baked method

Preheat the oven to 200 C / 400 F
Peel and chop all the vegetables – I only peel the aubergine, not the courgettes
Mix all the vegetables with the herbs and oil
Place all in a baking dish
Cover and bake for one hour
Uncover, stir, season to taste and continue baking until all the vegetables are soft
If too thick add some beef or chicken or vegetable stock
Can be puréed or left chunky
Enjoy!

Preparation: Classic method

Dice all the vegetables into small cubes
Make sure to keep each vegetable in a separate bowl
Heat the olive oil in a large pan
Sauté each vegetable (they must be all al dente, slightly crunchy) one at a time in the following order: onions, peppers, aubergines, courgettes – keep in separate bowls after cooking each
Cook the tomatoes with the crushed garlic, bay leaf, thyme, dried basil and oregano for about 15 minutes
Finally, mix all the ingredients together in the pan, and season with salt and pepper
Cover with a lid and set aside till serving time

 

Variations:
Give the dish a Moroccan twist by frying the onions with 2 tsp harissa paste and stirring in 400g can chickpeas, drained. For a more intense Mediterranean flavour, add 1 tbsp capers, a handful of pitted black olives and a few chopped anchovies.  Make it into a gratin by placing in a gratin dish, sprinkling with crumbs from 2 slices bread and a handful grated parmesan. Drizzle with olive oil and grill until golden. Or add a deseeded and finely chopped chilli with the garlic for an extra kick.

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