Midweek Meals: Five unusual ways to get the best of courgettes

From salad to sides, to chocolate-and-courgette buns, here are five ways to use up these in-season veg

From salad to sides, to chocolate-and-courgette buns, here are five ways to use up these in-season veg

Charred corn salad with courgette, orzo and goat's cheese

recipe by:Currabinny Cooks

Make the most of fresh corn with this warm salad

Servings

2

Preparation Time

 15 mins

Cooking Time

 10 mins

Total Time

 25 mins

Course

 Starter

Ingredients

• 2 ears of corn, grilled until moderately charred

• 1 medium courgette, sliced into medium slices at an angle

• 200g orzo

• 60g mayonnaise

• 3 tbsp fresh lime juice

•  ½ red onion, very finely chopped

• ½ tsp medium chilli powder

• good handful of chopped coriander

• 100g fresh, crumbly goat’s cheese like St Tola or Ardsallagh

• salt

• pepper

Method

1. Cook the orzo in salted boiling water as per packet instructions until a little more cooked than ‘al dente’. Drain, and place in a bowl to cool. Drizzle with a little olive oil and mix into the grain of orzo so prevent it all sticking together.

2. Grill the courgette slices on a medium hot grill pan with a little olive oil, seasoned lightly with salt and pepper. Don’t over-grill them to the point that they become too soft or fall apart, you want them still with a little crush, charred lightly by the grill pan. Set the grilled courgette to the side to cool.

3. Grill the corn on the same grill pan. Brush them with a little olive oil and turn them often. When cooked, set aside to cool a bit until you can handle them. When they are cool enough to handle, slice the kernels off by holding the cobs upright and cutting downwards, all around the cob until all the kernels are off.

4. To make the dressing, combine the mayonnaise, red onion, chilli powder and lime juice in a small bowl, whisking well and vigorously to combine.

5. Combine the orzo, courgette and corn in a large bowl along with the mayonnaise dressing, making sure all the ingredients are coated. Season with salt and pepper. You may need to add a little more lime juice. Arrange the the salad on a large platter with the goat’s cheese crumbled over and coriander leaves, chopped and sprinkled on top.

Courgette Fritters

recipe by:Michelle Darmody

A surprising way to get the best of a fridge staple!

Servings

4

Preparation Time

 30 mins

Cooking Time

 10 mins

Total Time

 40 mins

Course

 Main

Ingredients

• 1 big courgette

• 1 tbsp of mashed potato

• 2 eggs

• 35g of plain flour

• a handful of mint leaves

• 75g of feta cheese

• a dash of olive or sunflower oil

Method

1. Carefully grate the courgette. You can use the side of the grater which has the big holes, so that you have little strips of courgette. Once it gets difficult to hold the courgette you can stop grating.

2. Spread a clean tea towel onto a breadboard and then spread the courgette pieces over this and leave it there while you get everything else ready.

3. Crumble up the feta into small pieces and put it into a large bowl.

4. Ask a grown up to help you chop the mint leaves into very small pieces. Add these to the bowl.

5. Put the tablespoon of mashed potato into the bowl. Crack the two eggs in on top of it.

6. Scoop the courgette off the tea towel and into the bowl. You will notice that the towel is wet. It has taken some of the liquid out of the courgette for you.

7. Stir everything together. Ask an adult to heat a pan to medium with some oil, and to help you spoon a big spoonful of the batter into the pan. Allow it to cook until golden then carefully turn it over and cook until that side is golden too. Do this with the rest of the batter.