Courgettes, Courgettes, More Courgettes and Two Cucumbers!

Well Jack the Greengrocer (or just the friendly neighbour who has an allotment) dropped off two gigantic cucumbers, of which I have a photo if I can get Drop Box to download them in the next few months - it is very slow tonight. Last year, Jack kept bringing us tomatoes, as he had a much better crop than us, but his best treat of all were the globe courgettes that he dropped off every couple of nights - they were delicious, and inspired us to grow our own this year.

Not having had much luck with normal courgettes (everyone can grow courgettes, not sure what our problem is) we went for the globes this year and have now picked two of the biggest for teas this week:

In Sainos, they are charging 75p for these at half the size as well - manky looking things as well. These, lovingly cared for by husband#1, who is VERY proud, are very firm, heavy and (having now cut one up) fleshy.

So, having caught up with an old friend this afternoon (five years is just too long between coffees!), I rushed home to make fritters with pistou. For the pistou, I took basil - the recipe said 15g, but I used more - Parmesan (75g), lemon rind and four crushed cloves of garlic and blended them to a nice smooth sauce by adding olive oil - again, the recipe said 150ml, but I just did it until it got to a consistency I liked.

For the fritters, first I grated the courgettes (it said salt and drain for 1 hour, I just wrapped in kitchen roll and squeezed - seemed to work for me!) and put to one side. There was about 600g. Then, I took about 125g of plain flour, 1 egg and two egg yolks, a splash of olive oil, a pinch of salt and pepper and about 100ml of cold water and made a batter. I then took the remaining egg whites and whipped them up to stiff peaks. Finally I mixed the courgettes and batter together and folded in the egg whites and then fried ice cream scoop sized portions in vegetable oil.

Biggie looked at them and said, "Oh, I don't like those." and "You know that white stuff that Daddy was making? I tasted that and I don't like it." That was the garlic mayonnaise we made as we didn't think they'd like the pistou. So, with a heavy heart I called all to the table and threw a courgette fritter at everyone with a little pistou, a dollop of mayo (apart from for Biggie) and considered how long I'd push my very carnivorous gals to eat the fritters (they are vegetables, you know!) before resorting to ketchup.

Well, to my surprise they devoured the pistou (they are fans of pesto - BIG FANS) and a few fritters each. Biggie was wondering just how the football sized courgette could possibly have hidden itself so well inside a fritter but she still ate them. Baby Big Gal got fed up after the first but, after spooning in the rest of her pistou, ate the chopped up pieces one at a time with the promise of a Babybel to finish.

A success? Yes - definitely!

On a completely unrelated note, I wanted to add this picture of my fresh berry and pistachio white chocolate bark, as I was looking through some photos from last week and I'd forgotten how pretty it was - and tasty. Just melt the chocolate (I now do it in 15 second bursts in a glass dish in the microwave, stirring at each interval - nothing bad happens, I promise!), pour onto greaseproof paper and throw on your favourite berries, fruit or dried fruit and nuts. Leave in the fridge to set (or if you are keen to get to it, like husband#1 and I, put it in the freezer for 10 - 15 minutes and then serve in great chunks. A winner any day!