Greek Cucumber Salad
Iced Cucumber and Yoghurt Soup
Pickled Cucumber with Dill
Courgette and Mint Soup
Courgette and Pea Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette
Courgette Pancakes with Parmesan
Courgette Gratin
Oven Ratatouille
Courgette and Pine Kernel Spanokopitta
Black Olive, Courgette and Parmesan Pie
I was brought up thinking that the only way to eat cucumber was in sandwiches or as part of an old-fashioned English salad, the sort that comes with salad cream and isn’t complete without hard-boiled egg, tomatoes, beetroot and the heart of a floppy lettuce. I’ve since learned that it’s an unexpectedly versatile ingredient and I’m not just talking about salads. Part of this versatility is the different way it can be prepared. Sometimes, but not always, the skin has to be removed. Other times – when, for example, you want to make half-moons or sturdy batons – it’s necessary to scrape out the seeds and the watery pulp. Cucumber goes well with yoghurt to make soothing cold soups and fresh relishes like raita and tzatziki. But have you tried cooking it? Cucumber is lovely stewed in butter with peas and finished with cream and a little mint or tarragon. This is delicious hot or cold and goes well with grilled fish or poached chicken. Home-grown, so-called ridge cucumbers are so much more interesting than the uniform-length-and-shape cucumbers that the supermarkets sell. I like it when they refuse to grow straight and end up like a dark green kiss curl.
My dad used to grow marrows on his allotment and it was always exciting to check how much they’d grown overnight. Unfortunately, I never found them very exciting to eat. I hated their spongy, watery texture and lack of flavour, so when I first came across courgettes – in France while staying at a youth hostel – I didn’t expect to like them either. They are integral to ratatouille but there are few other occasions when they benefit from lengthy cooking. They make surprisingly delicate quick soups, particularly when matched with mint, and when thinly sliced, dusted with flour and fried they are a real treat. Another good idea is to slice them lengthways and cook them on the griddle before tossing them with thyme, lemon juice and olive oil.
In Mousehole, where courgettes turn into marrows overnight, most people with an allotment or kitchen garden grow them and occasionally they are sold at the village shop. Unless they are carefully cooked, courgettes will be as boring as their adult relative, the marrow. The general rule is to barely cook them, so that they retain their ‘bite’.
Tzatziki is the real name of Greek cucumber salad and it’s one of the many dips and relishes we regularly pile into our shopping basket for livening up just about everything from sandwiches to barbecues. Delicious and useful though most of them undoubtedly are, when you take the trouble to make your own they are always stunningly more interesting to eat. Store-bought, ready-made tzatziki is invariably made with grated cucumber and if the yoghurt is charged with fresh garlic and enriched with lemon juice and olive oil, it is rarely noticeable. When the tzatziki is made and eaten almost immediately, there is no need to worry about the wateriness of the cucumber. So, no bothering with removing the seeds and their pulp – the main culprit – or dredging with salt to draw out the liquid. The dish also becomes much more of a salad than a relish when the cucumber is cut in big chunky pieces. It takes a few moments to make and, like its shop-bought relative, goes wonderfully well with lamb kebabs or crusty lamb sausages.
1 garlic clove
salt and black pepper
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
3 tbsp olive oil
500g pot of Greek yoghurt
1 medium cucumber
1 tbsp chopped dill, mint or coriander
Peel and chop the garlic. Sprinkle with a generous pinch of salt and work to a juicy paste with the flat of a knife. Transfer to a bowl that can accommodate the yoghurt. Add the lemon juice and olive oil. Beat in the yoghurt with a wooden spoon until all is thoroughly amalgamated. Trim the cucumber and halve lengthways, cut each half on the slant in chunky slices. Add cucumber and the chosen herb or a mixture of two or all three and stir the salad before serving.
A favourite from A Celebration of Soup adapted by Simon Hopkinson from an old Cordon Bleu recipe.
2 small cucumbers
1 tsp salt
300ml plain yoghurt
300ml tomato juice
1 small garlic clove
900ml light chicken stock or
1 chicken stock cube dissolved in 900ml boiling water a small bunch of mint
300ml single cream
8 drops Tabasco or chilli essence
Peel the cucumbers and split lengthways. Use a teaspoon to scrape away the seeds and chop the cucumbers. Sprinkle on the salt and leave to drain for 30 minutes. Liquidize the yoghurt, tomato juice, peeled and chopped garlic clove, chicken stock and mint (reserving a few leaves for garnish). Strain through a fine sieve. Rinse the cucumber and squeeze out excess moisture in a clean tea-towel. Stir into the strained soup along with the cream and Tabasco. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Chill until very cold, and garnish with the reserved mint finely chopped.
One of the great things to have in the fridge ready to serve with almost anything. Particularly good with cold crab but try it with poached salmon or sea bass with mayonnaise. Good too as a barbecue add-on.
1 cucumber
salt
½ tsp sugar
3 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tbsp chopped dill
Slice the cucumber wafer-thin, spread out in the sink, sprinkle with 2 teaspoons of salt, transfer to a colander and leave to drain for 30 minutes.
To finish the cucumber relish, squeeze the cucumber with your hands then wrap in a clean tea towel and squeeze dry. Dissolve the sugar in the vinegar, fold in the cucumber and dill, transfer to a bowl or Kilner jar and chill in the fridge.
A lovely soup. It’s a very pretty pale green with darker green flecks.
1 small onion
1 shallot
50g butter
900g courgettes
1 cooked potato
salt and pepper 1.75 litres chicken stock or 2 chicken stock cubes dissolved in 1.75ml boiling water
2 tbsp finely chopped mint
2 tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
Peel and finely chop the onion and shallot. Soften the butter and gently sweat the onion and shallot until transparent. Meanwhile, trim then grate the courgette on the large hole of the cheese grater. Dice the potato. Stir the courgettes and potato into the onion, season generously, cover and cook for 5 minutes, stirring a couple of times. Add the stock, bring to the boil, turn down the heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Liquidize in batches with the mint and parsley. Return to a clean pan, reheat, taste for seasoning and serve.
Royden’s vegetable patch has kick-started my Fish Store cooking on countless occasions and one summer we benefited from continual gluts of huge courgettes and giant marrows. Most courgettes that we buy are tender, delicate vegetables which haven’t had the opportunity to develop seeds. If they have, and it’s most likely that they will if you bought them at a Farmers’ Market, you will get better results if you remove the seeds and their spongy surround. This is quickly done with a teaspoon, scraping out the soft centre as you might for cucumber.
Turning courgettes into a big, hearty salad was one of my glut ideas and it’s a useful barbecue dish because it doubles as a vegetable and goes with everything from sausages to kebabs and fish. Just take care not to overcook the courgettes – they only need a quick dip into boiling water – so that they retain some bite.
4 medium courgettes
salt and black pepper
500g frozen petits pois
bunch of spring onions
2 firm, ripe tomatoes, approx. 250g in total
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
handful of flat-leaf parsley leaves
Trim the courgettes, halve lengthways and slice on the slant to make thick, chunky diagonal wedges. Bring a large pan of water to the boil, add 1 teaspoon of salt and the courgettes. Return to the boil and boil for 1 minute. Have ready a sinkful of cold water and scoop the courgettes out of the pan into the water to arrest cooking. Return the pan to the boil and add the peas. Cook for a couple of minutes according to packet instructions. Drain into a colander. Scoop the courgettes into the colander. Meanwhile, trim and finely slice the spring onions. Pour boiling water over the tomatoes. Count to 20, drain and remove the skin. Use a small, sharp knife to remove the core in a small cone shape. Chop the tomatoes. Whisk together the balsamic vinegar and olive oil in a salad bowl. Stir in the drained vegetables and tomatoes. Season lightly with salt and generously with pepper. Mix thoroughly. Coarsely chop the flat leaf parsley leaves, stir them into the salad and serve immediately or keep waiting until required.
A light and delicious alternative to potatoes with fish or chicken or as part of a vegetarian meze.
3 medium-sized courgettes
3 eggs
100g flour
60g melted butter
bunch of chives
salt and black pepper
150ml crème fraîche
50g grated Parmesan
oil for frying
50g chunk of Parmesan
Trim, wash then grate the courgettes on the large hole of a cheese grater. Place the eggs in a bowl and whisk in the flour and melted butter until smooth. Stir in the courgettes. Snip 2 tablespoons of chives into the mixture. Season lightly with salt (Parmesan is very salty) and generously with pepper. Add a dollop of the crème fraîche and 50g grated Parmesan. If you need to keep the pancakes warm before serving, which you probably will, pre-heat the oven to a low temperature before you start cooking. Heat a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat and add spoonfuls of the mixture. Cook for a couple of minutes each side, turning when the pancakes are golden brown and slightly souffléd. Use a sharp knife or potato peeler to shave slivers from the chunk of Parmesan. Serve the pancakes with a scoop of crème fraîche, a scattering of Parmesan slivers and a generous garnish of chives.
This pleasingly plain, eggy gratin goes particularly well with cherry tomatoes which have been grilled until their skins pop and dressed with a splash of balsamic vinegar and olive oil. It is also a good accompaniment to boiled gammon or roast chicken.
500g small courgettes
25g butter
salt and pepper
2 eggs
150ml milk
100g mature Cheddar or other hard cheese
1 thick slice of bread
Pre-heat the oven to 350°F/180°C/gas mark 4. Wash, trim and slice the courgettes. Place them in a large frying pan or wide-based saucepan. Add 150ml water and most of the butter. Simmer uncovered for 3–4 minutes until they are just tender and the juices reduced. Season with salt and pepper. Use the remaining butter to smear a suitable gratin dish. Whisk the eggs and milk in a bowl. Grate three-quarters of the cheese directly into the mixture, season lightly with salt and pepper and mix thoroughly. Stir in the courgettes with about a tablespoon of the remaining cooking juices. Tip into the dish and shake to smooth the top. Blitz the bread to make crumbs. Grate the rest of the cheese and mix the two together. Sprinkle the cheesy crumbs over the top. Bake in the hot oven, testing after 20 minutes, until the custard has set and feels firm to the flat of the hand and the top is golden and crusted.
Towards the end of my pregnancy with Zach I gave up work and immersed myself in Michel Guérard’s seminal gourmet dieting book, Cuisine Minceur. To use the book successfully it is essential to surrender to the regime. One dish that really appealed to me was ratatouille with eggs poached in red wine. Intrigued by his pernickety approach, I decided to give it a go. Instead of simmering all the chopped vegetables in olive oil, M. Guérard fries each one separately and briefly in a little olive oil before mixing everything together in an oven dish and baking the ratatouille in the oven. The result is perfection every time, the vegetables keeping their shape and identity yet merging together almost like a vegetable terrine. There is none of the usual watery slop that so often spoils this dish, and when left overnight for the flavours to develop, it is extraordinarily good. In fact, I think I prefer ratatouille cold.
1 large onion
4 garlic cloves
1 large red pepper
1 medium aubergine
3 medium courgettes
8 ripe tomatoes
6 tablespoons olive oil
salt and pepper
1 bay leaf
3 sprigs of fresh thyme
12 basil leaves, torn
1 level tsp crushed coriander seeds
Pre-heat the oven to 400°F/200°C/gas mark 6.
Keeping separate piles, peel, quarter and thinly slice the onion. Peel and very finely chop the garlic. Quarter the red pepper lengthways, scrape away the seeds and white filament and finely slice. Quarter the aubergine lengthways and finely slice. Trim and finely slice the courgettes. Pour boiling water over the tomatoes, count to 20, drain, remove the skin and cut out the core. Cut each tomato into 8 pieces and discard seeds. Heat half the olive oil in a large frying pan and brown the onions, adding the garlic after a couple of minutes. Add the red pepper and allow to wilt slightly. Remove both from the pan to a large mixing bowl. Place the aubergine in a bowl and sprinkle over half the remaining olive oil. Use your hands to smear the slices thoroughly. Add to the pan, fry briefly until coloured, then transfer to the bowl along with the other vegetables. Using the last of the olive oil, repeat the smearing business with the courgettes and cook in the same way as the aubergines. Add to the other vegetables. Finally, give the tomatoes a quick fry so that they collapse slightly, and add to the mixing bowl. Season generously with salt and pepper and, using your hands, mix everything carefully together. Put the whole mixture into a shallow earthenware baking dish. Lay the bay leaf and thyme over the top and cover with a lid or foil. Bake for 40–45 minutes. Remove from the oven, stir in the basil and coriander seeds, cover and allow to stand for 15 minutes before serving, Alternatively, cool and serve chilled.
Greek spanakopitta pie is usually made with spinach and looks like a golden filo pastry parcel, the top etched with portion control squares. This version is made with courgettes instead of spinach and it works perfectly with the egg custard flavoured in the usual way with feta cheese and flat-leaf parsley. The pie can be served hot, warm or cold but reheats perfectly to recapture a crisp filo finish.
750g courgettes (approx. 5 medium-sized ones)
salt and black pepper
75g pine kernels
1 small onion or 4 spring onions
2 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves
generous handful basil leaves
3 tbsp finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
½ glass white wine, approx. 75ml
2 eggs
100g feta cheese
50g freshly grated Parmesan
200g filo pastry
75g melted butter or mixture butter and olive oil
Rinse and trim the courgettes. Grate them on the large hole of a cheese grater or food processor. Transfer to a colander, toss with ½ teaspoon salt and leave for 20 minutes to drain. Tip into a clean tea towel and squeeze dry. Meanwhile, heat a frying pan and dry-roast the pine kernels, tossing them constantly for 2–3 minutes until patched with gold.
Peel, halve and finely chop the onion or trim and finely slice the spring onions. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and cook the onion for a few minutes until soft but uncoloured. Add the courgette, season generously with salt and pepper and cook for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Peel and finely chop the garlic. Finely chop the basil. Add the garlic, parsley, basil and white wine. Cover and cook for 3–4 minutes, then remove from the heat. Whisk the eggs in a bowl, crumble the feta over the top and grate the Parmesan into the bowl. Stir in the vegetables.
Pre-heat the oven to 400°F/200°C/gas mark 6. Brush an approximately 23 x 30 x 5cm oven dish with melted butter. Use half the filo to make layers in the dish, spreading each layer with melted butter and leaving an overhang. Sprinkle half the pine kernels between a couple of the layers. Tip the filling into the pastry case and smooth the top. Tuck the overhang in towards the middle and continue making buttered layers of filo, sprinkling a couple with chopped pine kernels as before. Finish with a good smear of butter. Use a sharp knife to cut portionsized squares or diamonds, going through a couple of layers of filo. Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes until the pastry is golden and the filling set but still moist and juicy. Serve hot, warm or cold.
Cheesy, creamy, pastry smells will waft round the kitchen as this stupendous pie cooks and the result is a golden, crusty pie that gives on to a succulent, creamy and herby filling with bursts of salty, chewy black olives. It also reheats perfectly but is good cold and is perfect for a picnic. Delicious with a tomato salad.
200g flour plus extra for dusting
100g butter plus an extra knob
bunch of spring onions or 1 leek
3 tbsp olive oil
3 courgettes, approx. 450g
1 large garlic clove
10 flourishing basil leaves
handful of flat-leaf parsley leaves
250g ricotta
1 whole egg
2 egg yolks
50g Yarg or Cheddar cheese
3 tbsp grated Parmesan
salt and black pepper
14 black olives
splash of milk
Pre-heat the oven to 425°F/220°C/gas mark 7. Sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl (or food processor). Cut the butter into small pieces and add to the flour. Quickly rub the butter into the flour until it resembles damp breadcrumbs or pulse the food processor. Stir or briefly pulse a couple of teaspoons of cold water into the mixture, continuing tentatively until the dough seems to want to cling together. Form into a ball; dust with more flour if it’s too wet, adding a little extra water if it’s too dry. To avoid shrinkage when the pastry is cooked, cover and leave for 30 minutes. Choose a flan tin with a removable base, approximately 22cm diameter. Grease it generously with a knob of butter, going up the sides as well as the base. Dust the tin with flour, roll it round in your hands and shake out any excess. This makes the tin non-stick. Divide the dough into two pieces, one much smaller for the lid. Roll out the large piece to fit the tin, leaving a good lip and working the leftovers into the lid dough.
Meanwhile, trim and slice the spring onions or quarter the leek lengthways and then cut across into small scraps. Heat the oil and gently soften the leek while you trim and grate the courgettes on the large hole of a cheese grater. Peel and chop the garlic. Shred the basil. Chop the flat-leaf parsley. Stir the courgette and garlic into the leek and cook, stirring often, for about 5 minutes until the courgette has softened slightly and is beginning to weep. Stir in the basil. Place the whole egg and one egg yolk in a mixing bowl. Add the ricotta, grated Yarg, 2 tablespoons of Parmesan, the chopped parsley, a pinch of salt and several grinds of black pepper. Tear the olives off their stones in big pieces and add them too. Beat the egg mixture together until amalgamated and then mix in the courgettes. Turn it into the prepared pie dish. Roll out and fit the lid, crimping the edges together and rolling them towards the centre to secure. Mix the remaining egg yolk with the milk, paint it over the lid and use to ‘glue’ the edge. Make a few air holes with a fork and scatter over the last of the Parmesan. Place in the oven, turn the heat down to 400°F/200°C/gas mark 6 and cook for 35–40 minutes until puffed and golden. Remove collar and serve.