This year we have had a bumper crop of courgettes (zucchinis). I bought 4 plants as my seeds didn’t look like they were coming up, and then of course, much later a few sprang into life and I had 3 more plants. Seven courgette plants for 2 people is way too many, so I have been giving them away and we have been eating loads.
I have left a couple on the plant to grow into marrows and these I chop up, cook and feed to the chickens, they seem to enjoy them. I left one on quite a long time and it was enormous.
When I picked it I could hardly believe how heavy it was, so I thought I would weigh it. It was 9lbs 11 1/2 ounces!!
We have yellow courgettes as well as green ones, and I have found they don’t last as long in the fridge so I have to use them straight away. Small yellow ones are lovely cut up raw in salads. But for the rest of the courgettes I have been making courgette and tomato bake.
In an oven proof dish slice courgettes and alternate with sliced tomato.
Sprinkle with a little olive oil and place into a hot over 200 degrees C for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes take out and sprinkle grated parmesan cheese over the top and return to the oven for a further 5 minutes.
The resulting bake is delicious.
Of course there are courgette fritters to make and a courgette cake (bit like a carrot cake only with courgettes) and many other things to do with courgettes. I don’t mind having a glut of them, I do like to eat seasonally and fresh.
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Nikitaland said
Beautiful zucchini! I wish ours looked like that. 🙂
lodgehousebandbsomerset said
Its the combination of rain and sun in the UK that make them grow like that
Nikitaland said
Man, everything else in our garden is doing great except our zucchini! Bummer.
lodgehousebandbsomerset said
We also dug lots of rotted horse poo into the ground before we planted them and I think that helps!!
Nikitaland said
Ooooh that poo does work wonders. We might need more next year.
shadowlilies said
I wish you lived next door… I didn’t plant zucchini this year and I miss it. We usually make zucchini bread and freeze it. Your recipe looks yummy!
lodgehousebandbsomerset said
If you lived nearer I would share them with you. making bread from them is different!!
Laura Rittenhouse said
This is one of the veggies that’s nice to overplant because the fruit lasts so long on the vine and equally long in the fridge. The pressure to eat it up is spread over weeks, not days like with some food. And, you’re right, there’s no end of ways to use courgettes.
lodgehousebandbsomerset said
I agree and they are so tasty when young and fresh
Bill said
I have zuchinni envy. Well done!
Ours didn’t do so well this year. We planted a late crop only to have deer eat the tops out of all the plants. Grrr….
lodgehousebandbsomerset said
We have to be careful for deer too, but we have an electric fence running all the way up the back drive that stops them coming into our veggie patch