Recipes

Seasonal Food and Recipes: August

Suddenly it is August and the range of produce in the potager and at the markets shifts once again. Tomatoes are overflowing from every farmer’s stall, vibrant red tomatoes, huge yellow and black tomatoes, multi coloured cherry tomatoes, green and red striped ones too. The smell is heavenly – the very essence of summer. Big fat purple and white aubergines are back, lettuces are in abundance and green and yellow beans add to the choice available. Courgettes are also everywhere – at the market and in the potager. The colours are so fresh and summery. In the potager, the frost blighted raspberries have had a rebirth and are heavy with plump juicy fragrant fruit – never enough for jam but just enough for breakfast.

This month the courgette takes centre stage. We have lots of little courgettes in the potager. Neighbours drop off spare courgettes. The boys are getting a bit jaded with courgettes at almost every meal. I love it – the small ones are delicious lightly sautéed in olive oil with some freshly ground black pepper and maybe a squeeze of lemon juice, sprinkled with fresh herbs from the garden – in salads, on their own, on toast. The larger ones go into omelettes, pasta sauces, soups and are delicious oven roasted with red onion and garlic – maybe with a sprinkling of sumac. In the interest of family happiness, I have been researching different courgette recipes, so as not to waste this glut, aside from freezing some and of course chutney. I have already made some caramelised curried courgette chutney (recipe adapted from the Curried Rhubarb Chutney – see post: Day 11 of 12 Days of Christmas Recipes) and a batch of spicy courgette chutney is coming soon. My mother mentioned courgette jam – a bit like marrow jam I suppose – one to try.

At the weekend I made courgetti spaghetti, using a spiralizer my mother gave me. I mixed it with actual spaghetti and stirred through a sauce made with mushrooms, chopped tomatoes and red spring onion thinly sliced (and secretly a little chopped courgette!) Delicious.

I also found a recipe for courgette brownies so I thought I would share this with you. This comes from The Kitchen Shed (https://www.talesfromthekitchenshed.com) where you can find lots of other lovely recipes.  I have made courgette cake and savoury courgette loaves before but never courgette and chocolate, so was pleasantly surprised at the light, moist squares of chocolate brownie that came out of the oven. Lovely warm and delicious cold. Enjoy with a coffee or tea or with ice-cream or Greek yogurt for pudding.

Courgette Brownies

Makes 16 squares. Preparation time: 15 mins Cooking time: 30 mins

A baking tin (27cmx20cm x3.5cm deep approx.), lined with baking parchment with a 5cm overhang for easy removal of brownies

Ingredients

300g courgette

1/2tsp salt

200g dark chocolate

150g unsalted butter

3 medium eggs

200g caster sugar

1tsp vanilla extract

140g plain flour

2tbsp cocoa powder

2tsp baking powder

Method

1: Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan/Gas mark 4

2: Coarsely grate the courgette and place in a colander sprinkled with the salt. Leave to drain.

3: Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl over a pan of boiling water. Add the vanilla extract and stir until the chocolate is smooth. Remove the bowl from the pan and leave to cool.

4: In a large bowl whisk the eggs and sugar until doubled in volume (about 5 mins).

5: Pour the cooled chocolate into the butter mixture and gently fold in using a spatula.

6: Gently press the courgettes in the colander to squeeze out any liquid, then fold into the chocolate mixture in a figure of 8 movement to avoid knocking the air out.

7: Put the dried ingredients in a sieve or flour sifter and sieve over the chocolate mixture. Again fold in carefully using a figure of 8 movement.

8: Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth over with a spatula.

9: Bake in a preheated oven for about 30 minutes.

10: To check if it is cooked, it should have a paper-like crust. Insert a skewer or toothpick– there should be a smear of brownie and a few crumbs when you pull it out. If it just wet batter, pop it back in the oven for another 5 minutes.

11: Place tin on a cooling rack and leave to cool. Once cold, remove from tin and cut into squares and dust with icing sugar. (They are also delicious warm if you don’t want to wait!).

Tips:

The brownies will keep in an airtight container for up to 5 days. You can also freeze them for up to 3 months. Cut into squares and open freeze for a couple of hours on a baking sheet lined with parchment, before putting them into a freezer bag.

The Kitchen Shed also suggests adding 2 tsps. of espresso powder with the dry ingredients and/or 100g chopped nuts such as hazelnuts. Why not try this too?

Enjoy!

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