Here is another courgette recipe for the glut! We have a ton of tomatoes in the greenhouse at the moment so this gets rid of those as well. It is a kind of ratatouille invented to use what we had in the fridge.
Spicy courgette stew with fresh tomatoes
1 large onion, chopped
2 sticks of celery, sliced
1 medium aubergine, cut into cubes
About three medium courgettes, sliced
3 cloves garlic, chopped or crushed
2lb/900g fresh tomatoes, skinned and chopped (or two 400g cans)
2-3 tsp ground cumin
A dollop of tomato purée
2 tsp Marigold vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil
Put a good glug of oil into a large wok or frying pan and get it quite hot. This stops the aubergine from absorbing so much of the oil. Throw in all of your veg apart from the tomatoes and stir fry fairly gently for 10 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cumin and fry for two more minutes, then add the tomatoes, stock and tomato purée. Cover and simmer for about 10 minutes more, stirring and adding salt and pepper to taste.
So easy! We had this simple courgette recipe with some baked chicken thighs and roasted new potatoes, but it would be nice served with rice.
The courgettes are nearly finished now and I am almost relieved! We still have a few runner beans arriving and the odd cucumber, but the tomatoes are growing at full throttle. They are so nutritious and versatile that I rarely have a problem using them. If all else fails I will make another batch of tomato soup for the freezer.
I don’t use any particular recipe for this. I usually fry up some onion, celery and garlic, add as many tomatoes as I need to use (skinned and roughly chopped) and then cover with vegetable stock. They produce a lot of juice so I don’t add too much, just enough to cover all the veg. I cook it for about 10-15 minutes, seasoning to taste, then blend it.
Do you grow your own and what are you fave seasonal recipes?
Margaret Powling says
These simple recipes, using whatever you have (in your case a glut of courgettes and tomatoes) are always easy and nourishing, aren’t they? I similarly made a veggie curry last week using whatever there was available in the salad drawer in the fridge. It’s fun to make up recipes as you go with whatever is available. Perhaps we rely to heavily on recipe books and have forgotten the art of invention for ourselves. If you can saute an onion, you can make a veggie recipe, can’t you? Most meals start with chopping and saute-ing an onion.
Margaret P
Catherine says
Love your recipe. We roast a lot of our glut, open freeze and then put into a container for use in lasagnes, home made pizzas, roast vegetable quiches. So a mix of tomatoes, courgettes, sweet potatoes, aubergine red onions, garlic. I also make Delias courgette potato and mint burgers. Very easy and a very useful recipe.
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
Mmm that all sounds lovely
Jean Scholefield says
I’m not growing so much this year but tomatoes are in everything at the moment including green tomato loaf. I have bags of blackberries in the freezer have already used plenty too. No courgettes this year sadly.
Julia says
Do your courgettes suffer from bitterness?
I usually only buy frozen veg but bought some fresh courgettes once, and steamed them as I usually do with veg, but they were horribly bitter!
I read that the bitterness is removed if boiled, but then they become soggy instead!
I’ve been put off buying them since, which is a shame as I do love them. 🙁
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
I have never steamed them! They don’t usually taste bitter but nicer fried in a little butter I think. Yeah, I know, not so healthy
Amanda says
I had a glut of tomatoes this year also so I skinned and chopped them and froze them. Just use as you would tinned. Love the new look by the way.
shoestringjane@outlook.com says
Thanks! Yes, I will do
that if I run out of ideas