Courgettes 4 ways - part 1

It's been a really good year for courgettes so far and I can never understand why people complain that they have a glut of them - there are so many great recipes you can use them in, and you can never have too many as far as I'm concerned! Especially now I've discovered that if you grate them they freeze beautifully, and that means you don't have to use them all once. I've been stashing lots of plastic food bags filled with grated courgette in the freezer over the past few weeks, and they're still growing well so I'm hoping I'll be enjoying them well into the autumn and maybe even through the winter. If that's the case I'll be ridiculously pleased because I hate it when all the home-grown veg comes to an end and I have to go back to buying it again!

So, today here's the first of my four favourite ways to cook with courgettes... I've served them here with chicken but when my vegetarian niece, Hannah, came to lunch recently we had it with just the feta and it was still really lovely.

COURGETTE WITH FETA, BASIL AND MINT

2 chicken thighs, cut into chunks (optional)
1 red onion
1 clove of garlic
4 courgettes
Juice of half a lemon
Several springs of mint
Small handful of basil
50g feta
Handful of toasted almonds

Start by stir-frying the chicken (if using) with the onion and garlic. While they're cooking, grate the courgettes (this takes a matter of seconds if you use the coarse grating disc on a food processor). Put them in a large frying pan with the lemon juice over a high heat, then once you can hear sizzling turn down the heat to medium and cook until the courgettes are tender (about 10 mins).

Season well, stir in the chicken, feta, onion and garlic then the mint and basil. Sprinkle with the almonds just before serving.

Serves 2

COOKS' PLOT TIP: This is one of those dishes that's best served at room temperature, which is handy because it means you can make it a little bit in advance and avoid the last-minute scramble to get everything ready when you're cooking a meal for friends

If you'd like to get in touch about this or any other recipe, you can now email me at 

a-cooks-plot@gmx.co.uk

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