The Swamp Monster Returns...
A childhood zucchini nightmare is born again into a courgette dream!
When I was a kid mum had a great vegetable garden. She’d spend long hours out on warm days weeding, planting and harvesting and a lot of what we ate was a product of that patch. She was a good cook too and I remember loving what she served up in the evening for our dinners; all except for one dish. It was a stew of tomato, onion and zucchini (kind of a Ratatouille) and more than the flavour it’s the texture that is forever stuck in my mind. Soft and mushy, the skin of the zucchini like that of a swamp creature. It truly was the stuff of nightmares for a ten year old girl.
Ha! What an off putting way to start a blog celebrating the zucchini. Let’s consider this post a kind of therapy shall we? I’ll put my feet up and you can ask me probing questions about my childhood. On second thoughts I don’t think we have the time!
In fact I’ve long since gotten past my aversion to courgettes, the minute I realised what a nutritional gem the baby marrow is I was all over it, ready to forgive and forget, to create new memories that are less gag inducing.
The plant is known by three different names and all of them mean the same thing - small marrow - zucchini (Italian), courgette (French) and baby marrow (South African English). It becomes a fully fledged marrow when it reaches a certain size that’s bigger than a standard zucchini. This seems to happen with breakneck speed and harvesting needs to be done daily to avoid the ‘marrow trap’ of too many with not enough mouths to feed. If you get a bit lax on picking and are faced with many marrows I’ve included a chutney recipe that uses over a kg of the green monster so they won’t all go to waste.
Anyone who’s ever planted a courgette in anticipation will not have been disappointed. Easy to grow in temperate climates as long as they have a good watering most days, it certainly holds it’s own with a healthy plant returning about 4.5kg of fruit over it’s growing period, but be aware it loves to stretch out across the garden.
The zucchini bulb that is eaten is actually a swollen ovary of the blossom!
There are both male and female blossoms on the zucchini plant. The female blossom has the ovary that we call a zucchini. Botanically the ovary of a plant that contains the seeds is called a fruit and it’s packed with beneficial nutrients including Vitamins C and A, potassium, folate, and fiber. All contribute to a healthy heart by decreasing the risk of stroke, reducing high blood pressure, and lowering cholesterol.
These are 5really different recipes using both the small courgette and the larger marrow. A super simple, fresh salad for lunch in a flash, a robust and sweet chutney to pair with good cheese and conversation, fritters to feed the fussiest in the family with a thick, fresh, yummy dipping sauce to make from scratch, a hearty, delicious bake to serve on it’s own or as a side and a show stopping, mega moist and rich chocolate and cherry cake which is hiding a little secret. As with all I share the emphasis is on bold, delicious flavour, ease of preparation (who’s got the time right!) and packing them with the best nutrition you can in every mouthful.
Have a go at these while zucchinis are at their best and inexpensive to buy and I truly, truly hope that none of them remind you of my ten year old ‘swamp monster’ stew - enjoy x
More a collection of good ingredients than a recipe, the magic in this very simple dish is in the dressing.
Simply slice some fresh courgettes into ribbons or use a spiraliser to make noodles, mix green and yellow for a nice bright plate of colour.
To make the dressing into a bowl put 1/2 a cup of your favourite pesto (I used homemade watercress pesto for this), squeeze 1/2 lemon into it and a glug of good olive oil and then mash in one lovely ripe avocado until it’s smooth and creamy.
Gently toss the dressing through the courgettes. Finish with another squeeze of lemon, some olive oil, fresh herbs and salt and pepper to taste.
Marrow Chutney
Ingredients
1.35kg marrow,
salt
2 apples, peeled, cored and chopped
3 shallots, chopped
225g sultanas
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
450g dark brown soft sugar
375ml vinegar
1 ½ Tbsp grated ginger
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
¼ tsp crushed chillies (less if desired)
Method
Place the peeled, seeded and cubed marrow into a non-reactive bowl and sprinkle generously with salt. Cover and let sit overnight.
Drain marrow, rinse thoroughly and place into a large pot. Add remaining ingredients and slowly bring to the boil.
Lower the heat and gently simmer for 1 ½ to 2 hours or until thick, stirring occasionally.
Pour into hot sterilised jars and seal immediately.
Zucchini Fritters with Fresh Tomato Dipping Sauce
For the Fritters
2 zucchinis
2 eggs
1 onion finely chopped
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 tbsp chopped fresh mint
1/4 tsp chopped fresh chilli
1 clove garlic minced
4 tbsp ground almonds
salt & pepper to taste
Olive oil for frying
INSTRUCTIONS
Grate the zucchinis into a colander and add some salt, set aside for 30 minutes then squeeze out as much water as possible
Mix the zucchinis with all other ingredients in a bowl
Heat oil in a pan and use a cookie cutter to get round shape for fritters by holding in place for 30 seconds as you spoon 1 large tablespoon of batter then removing the cutter, they should end up about 1cm thick, you should get about 10 fritters
Fry for approx 5 mins each side till golden brown and cooked through
Tomato dipping sauce
1tin of diced tomatoes
1/2 tsp fresh chilli minced
1 clove garlic minced
bunch of fresh basil
salt & pepper to taste
1 onion chopped
Tomato dipping sauce
Fry off your onion and your garlic until its soft. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer until you’ve got a nice chunky sauce. If it’s to your taste you may want to add a little sugar or maple syrup x
Marrow and Potato Bake
INGREDIENTS
1 tbsp oil
4 courgettes, sliced
1 onion, sliced
3-4 cloves garlic
pepper & salt
1 tbsp flour
½ cup milk
200g cheddar (‘tasty’) cheese
METHOD
Pre-heat the oven to 160°C. Oil a shallow oven dish. Layer the courgettes and sliced onion in the dish.
Sprinkle with crushed garlic, 1 tsp salt and a generous grinding of black pepper. Bake for 15 -20 minutes.
Sprinkle the flour over and stir, then add the milk and top with the cheese. Bake a further 15-20 minutes. Finish under the grill for 5 minutes (if needed) to get a golden-brown top. Serve hot
Serves: 6-8
Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes
Zucchini, Chocolate, Cherry Cake
INGREDIENTS
250g plain / coconut yoghurt
1½ cups coconut sugar
4 eggs
2 large zucchini, ends cut off, grated, with skin on
½ cup peanut oil
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
¾ cup cocoa powder
½ tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ cup large dark chocolate chips
2 tsp baking soda
¼ cup milk, boiling
2 doz fresh cherries, deseeded and halved ( ½ in the cake mix and ½ for decoration on icing)
METHOD
Preheat oven to 175°C. Grease and flour two 20cm cake tins.
Cream the yoghurt and coconut sugar, then add the eggs, grated courgette and oil. Sift flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and cocoa into the bowl and mix until combined. Add the chocolate chips.
Dissolve the baking soda in boiling milk and add to the mix. Blend well. Pour into your prepared tins.
Bake for 40-50 minutes, until a knife inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Top with frosting of your choosing and the remaining fresh cherries.
