What to do with courgette gluts? Sweet and savory recipes

Ross’s Easy Peasy Courgette Pesto

Courgette glut? Fed up of the sight of them? Use this recipe to hide the offending veg and make a super fast, super tasty, super fresh meal. This recipe makes enough pesto for 6 people.

Ingredients
6 courgettes, ideally around 12 cms long. Don’t use the oversize ones, as they may be too bitter for this recipe.
3 tbs olive oil
1 large clove garlic
handful of fresh basil
1 tbs pine nuts (or use cooked chickpeas as an alternative)
salt & pepper to taste
chilli flakes for dressing

Method

1. Roughly chop courgettes – there is no need to cook, salt or drain them.
2. Place all ingredients into bowl and whizz together using a hand blender (or put into a blender) – keep the mixture slightly textured
3. Test and adjust seasoning to taste.
4. Cook up your favourite pasta – I used linguine
5. Serve the pasta with a little olive oil mixed through; spoon the pesto on top, garnish with basil and sprinkle with chilli flakes and / or cheese.
6. Add a tomato salad and warm crusty ciabatta to make into a main meal.

Courgette & Chocolate Chip Muffins
Adapted from Allrecipes UK

This is a great recipe for using up all those pesky courgettes coming into season now. The ones I used were a drier variety, which meant I needed to add a bit more water to get the right consistency. I also reduced the oil and sugar to make a less sweet muffin.

Ingredients
200g plain flour
100g caster sugar
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
½ tsp salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
100ml vegetable oil
80ml soya milk
1 tbs lemon juice
200g grated courgette (excess moisture squeezed out)
100g bar of dairy free chilli chocolate (cut into chunks) or choc chips

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C/ Gas 4. Grease muffin tins/ line with cases
2. Combine flour, sugar, bicarbonate of soda & salt together.
3. In a separate container, mix egg, oil, milk, lemon juice & vanilla extract together. Add to dry ingredients and stir until just combined
4. Fold in grated courgette & chocolate chips. Consistency should be dropping off spoon, but not runny. Add extra milk or water if mixture is too dry.
5. Put mixture in muffin cases and place in oven.
6. Cook for 20-25 minutes; cool; eat

Recipes supplied by BHOGG member Jenni.