RECIPE | RATATOUILLE

A quick and speedy version of the classic French dish.

It's a vegetable stew with tinned tomatoes, c'mon!

RATATOUILLE

Ingredients:

1 can of Tinned Tomatoes

1tbsp Tomato Puree

1tsp Mixed Herbs

1/2 tsp Sugar

1 large Onion

2 cloves of Garlic

1 Courgette

1 Pepper

1 Aubergine (I substituted the aubergine for mushrooms as I am not a massive aubergine fan).

Fresh herbs and Seasoning to taste.

Instructions:

1.  Mince the cloves of garlic and dice the onions and place in a pan with a little bit of oil. Add the mixed herbs (and I also added smoked paprika) and cook on a low heat and cover.

2.  Start chopping the rest of the vegetables nice and chunky. Add them to the pan with the garlic and onions and leave them to sweat for 5 minutes

3. Open up your tin of tomatoes and add them to the pan, along with the tomato puree and the sugar. Season to taste. Cover the pan and continue to cook on a low heat for 15 minutes.

4. By this point a nice thick stew will have formed, if you want to make it even thicker then you can add some cornflour or my preferred sneaky option of gravy granules!
Stir in some fresh herbs (basil is lovely) and take the pan off the heat.

And there you have it - a wonderful and quick bowl of nutritious goodness.

You can eat it on its own, with rice/quinoa/couscous/pasta, on top of a jacket potato, in a pitta...etc.

I served mine with some fresh basil and some of my home made courgette crisps crushed on top.
It was simply DELISH.

RECIPE | COURGETTE CRISPS

Okay, I still havn't perfected this recipe but they still have an amazing taste every time (even if they are slightly charred!).

The moreish/guiltless munching material!

COURGETTE CRISPS

Ingredients:

1-2 Courgettes (depending on how big a volume you want to make)

Spray Oil

Seasoning (You can get creative here!)

Instructions:

1.  Preheat your oven to 180°C and line a baking tray with baking paper and use a few sprays of oil to cover it.

2.  The courgette slices need to be around 2-3mm thick. If you are confident doing this with a knife then go for it! If not, I find a cheese peeler is a good cheat option.

3.  Place the courgette slices onto the baking paper and make sure they are not touching or overlapping each other. Use a few sprays of oil to cover the courgettes and then season if you wish.

*I like the combination of cracked black pepper and herb salt.

4.  Place the tray on the middle shelf of your oven. Leave for 10 minutes and then check the courgettes, some of them will be turning brown at this point so turn them over and place back in the oven.

5.  Some slices will be browned (charred!) before others so it's best to stay with them and just keep checking. Remove them as they are ready in little batches (when they get crispy) and leave to cool for 5 minutes before eating.

RECIPE | COURGETTE BROWNIES

A healthy(ish) twist on the indulgent classic.

These brownies keep well and stay delightfully moist.

* To make these even HEALTHIER you can replace the oil with half a cup of over ripe mashed banana and leave out the chocolate pieces and nuts.

COURGETTE BROWNIES

Ingredients:

125ml Vegetable Oil

300g Caster Sugar

250g Grated Courgette

2tsp Vanilla Essence

40g Cocoa Powder

250g Plain Flour
1tsp Salt

1tsp Baking Powder

1tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

80g Chopped Walnuts

100g Dark Chocolate (chopped into small pieces)

50g Chocolate Chips

Instructions:

1.  Preheat your oven to 180°C and grease a 22x33cm baking tin.

2.  Get a large mixing bowl and combine the oil, sugar and vanilla essence, mixing until it is blended.

3.  Sift the flour, cocoa powder, bicarbanate of soda, baking powder and salt into the mixture and get mixing!

4.  Add the grated courgette, along with most of the walnuts, dark chocolate pieces and chocolate chips (make sure to leave enough for a generous sprinkling of each to go on top of the mixture) and MIX.

5.  Pour the mixture into the baking tin and then sprinkle with the rest of the dark chocolate, chocolate chips and walnuts.

6.  Place the tin in the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes (depending on the heat of your oven).

RECIPE | STICKY MARMALADE COURGETTE LOAF

Well hey there, would you look at that...another baking delight incorporating that funny green vegetable.

This one LOOKS and TASTES incredible and is also ridiculously easy to make.

STICKY MARMALADE COURGETTE LOAF

Ingredients:

Cake:

175g Self-Raising Flour

1tsp Baking Powder

150g Brown Sugar

150g Butter

3 Eggs

2tbsp Milk

1tsp Vanilla Essence

200g Grated Courgette

Zest of 2 Oranges

Sticky glaze:

3tbsp of your favourite Marmalade.

40g Caster Sugar.

Juice + Zest of 1 Orange.

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C. Grease and line a 2lb loaf tin.

2. Beat the butter and sugar together until creamy.

3. Add the eggs individually until they are mixed in well.

4. Add the flour and baking powder to the mixture, followed by the grated courgette, orange zest and milk.

5. Pour the mixture into the loaf tin and place on the middle shelf of your oven for 50-55 minutes.

6. To make the syrup: Heat the juice and zest of the orange in a pan and add the marmalade and sugar. Cook on a very low heat until a nice gloopy syrup forms.

7. Whilst the cake is still hot, take a skewer and jab the cake until your heart is content (this makes the cake extra moist as you are making nice little holes for the syrup to delve into).

8. Pour the sticky glaze over the loaf whilst it is still in the tin. Leave until cool and then remove it from the tin.

Even Paddington Bear would be proud.

RECIPE | COCONUT, LIME AND COURGETTE CAKE

This is my recipe for a birthday cake I made for my sister last week.

It's a mixture of several recipes I found on the internet and then adapted to make one that suits my families tastes.

Very easy to make...and also very handy for using up the abundance of courgettes we have produced from our allotment this month!

COCONUT, LIME AND COURGETTE CAKE

Ingredients:

Cake:

350g Self-Raising Flour

250g Caster Sugar

250g Butter

1tsp Vanilla Essence

4 Eggs

350g Grated Courgette

60g Dessicated Coconut

Zest + Juice of 1 Lime

Frosting:

200g Cream Cheese

60g Butter

250g Icing Sugar

Generous portion of Dessicated Coconut for sprinkling.

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease and line two 25cm cake tins.

2. Beat the sugar and butter in a bowl until smooth and creamy.

* A tip from Mama Wood is to use an electric whisk and wait for the mixture to become lighter in colour.

3. Add the eggs individually, beating them into the mixture.

4. Add the flour, vanilla essence, grated courgette, lime zest, lime juice and dessicated coconut.

5. Pour the mixture into the two cake tins and place on the middle shelf of the oven and cook for 30-40 minutes.

6. When the cakes are cooked, remove them from the oven and allow to cool for 20 minutes. Remove the cakes from the tins and allow them to cool for a further hour on wire cooling racks.

7. To make the frosting: Mix the cream cheese, butter and icing sugar together until smooth and fluffy. Spoon the mixture over the top of one of the cakes.

Place the other cake on top (like a sandwich!). Then use the rest of the frosting to cover the whole cake. Once the cake is covered, sprinkle generously with dessicated coconut.

The Result:

A lovely, moist and flavoursome sponge cake with a generous layering of cream cheese frosting.

And trust me, you won't even taste the courgette!