There is a special synchronicity when many of your passions coincide. This recipe for Quesadillas with Courgette Flowers brings together my interests in travelling and experiencing different cultures, growing my own fruits and vegetables, cooking fresh tasty food straight from the garden and enjoying my backyard haven. I was reading Rick Stein's book "The Road to Mexico" and reminiscing about my trip to Mexico, Guatemala and Belize 3 years ago, whilst sitting in my new outdoor area enjoying a … [Read more...]
Kumara Zucchini Pancakes
These kumara & zucchini pancakes are a delicious quick lunch and a great alternative to my favourite brunch staple, corn fritters. Serve them piping hot with avocado, chutney or relish, or sour cream. This year I successfully grew kumara (sweet potato) in containers and have been looking for different recipes to use them in. I also have masses of zucchini (courgettes) in the freezer, grated and frozen in 1 cup lots ready to use. 1 cup grated zucchini (I used frozen) 1 cup … [Read more...]
Stuffed Marrow Recipe
Summer for me always means a good supply of courgettes or zucchinis in the garden. But if it rains as much as it has this summer, the courgettes will start turning into marrows if you don't check them often enough and all the other vegetables will be producing copiously. This stuffed marrow recipe is a tasty way of using the summer glut of vegetables. You could stuff them with a mince mixture or add chorizo sausage to spice up the recipe, but I like the herb, tomato and mushroom flavour and the … [Read more...]
Corn Fritters with Avocado Pesto
Corn Fritters are a great standby recipe for a weekend brunch. You don't have to restrict yourself to just corn and can easily adapt the recipe depending on the ingredients you have to hand. I like to make them throughout the year using summer vegetables that I have frozen and use pesto that I have made previously and frozen, stirred through fresh avocado. 2 medium red peppers* 30g butter 1/3 cup milk 1/2 cup flour 1 egg, lightly beaten 130g can creamed corn* 1 medium … [Read more...]
Chickpea Ratatouille
Traditional Ratatouille is a famous French vegetable stew made in autumn when the main ingredients (eggplant, zucchini/courgette, capsicum, tomatoes) are plentiful. Purists would make it exactly to the traditional recipe but there are many variations now that people call ratatouille, even versions baked in the oven rather than as a stew. I like to stay true to the original vegetable stew concept but add whatever vegetables I happen to have, such as green beans. Some recipes sauté the … [Read more...]
Grilled Vegetable Salad
This salad is perfect for late summer when capsicums, eggplant and courgette (or zucchini) are plentiful in the garden. You can roast them in the oven but I prefer to grill or barbeque them to get those lovely golden brown lines across them. Once cooked you can drizzle them with balsamic vinegar and add sundried tomatoes, olives and feta to make a meal of them or serve them as a vegetable dish. They are delicious piping hot or served at room temperature. … [Read more...]
Zucchini Loaf
When you have got masses of zucchini or courgettes growing in your garden and they all come at once, it can be quite daunting to think "what else can I possibly do with them?". In an earlier post I recommended that you grate the zucchini and freeze it in 1 cup amounts. This recipe is perfect for using your grated zucchini and is delicious. The first time I made it I followed the recipe exactly (apart from adding some ginger to it) and it was nice but a bit dry and a little too sweet for my … [Read more...]
Zucchini Relish
Summer is time for growing zucchinis or courgettes and if, like me, you have ended up with more of them than you (and your friends) can eat now then making relish so that you can enjoy them later is a good thing to do. 4 cups finely chopped zucchini (courgette) 1 cup finely chopped onion 1 large red, yellow or orange capsicum (sweet pepper)* 1/2 cup finely chopped celery 2 tbsp pickling salt 1 1/2 cups sugar 1 1/4 cups vinegar (white or cider) 1 tbsp celery seed … [Read more...]
Crispy Zucchini Flowers Stuffed with Herbed Ricotta
Although I had previously tried a boiled stuffed zucchini flower recipe because I wasn't that keen on deep frying, I had to try this recipe just once to see what the fuss was about. And it was delicious so I might do it again for a special occasion (or keep my eye out for where someone else will do it for me). This recipe is adapted from Jamie Oliver to fit with what I had in the garden. 4 zucchini flowers, with baby zucchini still attached 100-200g Ricotta cheese, preferably home-made … [Read more...]
Zucchini, Feta and Herb Fritters
Mid summer is a time of abundance in the veggie garden and this year zucchini (also known as courgettes) are extremely prolific in mine. Finding new ways of using and preserving them is essential. I've given them to friends and neighbours, frozen them both grated and in pieces, and made relish. I've grilled them, stuffed the flowers, made ratatouille and even a zucchini loaf. This fritter recipe is a nice option and you can use frozen grated zucchini to make them at other times of year … [Read more...]