August - captivating courgettes

August

The time has come, it is finally courgette season in the kitchen garden. Oh how I long for these days when the sun shines and courgettes fill my plate at every meal. This month’s recipe is all about my beloved and often abused courgette. Courgettes were the first ingredient I cooked on Masterchef and how I made my way into the most exclusive club, earning myself a coveted John Torode ‘Boom!’ for a critique.

Away from my courgette mania, we are deep into sheep and livestock showing season. The Agricultural shows are a huge moment in the farming communities’ social calendar. Animals are groomed and halter trained, boots are polished and gallons of cider are poured.

It is an excitable early start in our house on the day of Dunster show; picnics and sheep are loaded and endless DEFRA paperwork is folded into envelopes. We always hope for a rosette or two but we are newcomer amateurs and not committed show sheep farmers, and there is a huge difference. It takes years of planning to win the most prestigious classes, pedigrees are studied, lambing is planned for the darkest winter months so that the lambs and ewes are in peak physical condition for show season, wool is teased, white coats are pressed, breed society ties are knotted, and hats are donned. Competition is fierce but friendly, the results though are meaningful with a win adding vital value to the sales price of the animal and their progeny at a time where every penny matters for many struggling farms.

While the summer shows are a spectacle and a jolly day out they also mean a great deal to farmers for myriad reasons. In an industry renowned for being isolating, where most people work long days and are alone more often than not, where mental health issues are common, these days can also be a social lifeline; a real chance for friends old and new to connect, for families to meet up and for the farming community to show members of the public how much they care about their animals and the majestic British countryside.

Captivating Courgettes, the mother recipe.

This recipe is all about the mother - slow cooked, melting courgettes studded with garlic, lemon and chilli. This dreamy recipe can be used in so many ways, I will cook this during our fiercest glut and keep it in the fridge for days, utilising it in most of our meals.

The mother

3 courgettes, sliced lengthways and then into half moons 3-4mm thick

3 cloves of garlic, sliced wafer thin

A generous glug of EVOO

A pinch of dried mint

Salt and pepper

Zest and juice of half a lemon

Hefty pinch dried chilli

Add the EVOO to a pan on a low heat, once warm add the garlic, after a minute add the courgettes, salt, pepper and a pinch of dried mint. Cook these courgettes with care for around 25 minutes until they are seriously soft and creamy. Add the lemon juice, zest and a strong pinch of chilli flakes, reduce for a minute and take off the heat.

This is the mother recipe and can be used as a pasta sauce - stir through some ricotta for extra creaminess and throw on freshly shelled salty pistachios; spoon onto toasted sourdough, adorn with burrata and some just picked peas and broad beans for a speedy lunch; serve as an accompaniment to roasted lamb; or stir though some braised white beans and fennel and top with crispy baby leeks for a simple plant based dish.

Here I’ve served the mother on some super-fast, super-easy flatbreads, with spicy merguez sausages, quick pickled baby courg’s and a flurry of grated frozen goats cheese.

For the flatbread, combine equal quantities of SR flour and natural yogurt, knead for a minute and shape into golf ball sized rounds. Roll out each ball until 3mm thick. Place on a hot griddle pan for 2 mins each side, until pillowy and fluffy. Brush with butter or EVOO and serve.