What to do with all those courgettes (a recipe roundup)

Easing neighbourly relations, one courgette recipe at a time.

It’s time for the annual battle of wills between me and our retired neighbour. It generally goes like this (but in Bulgarian):

He appears by the fence and yells: Do you want some courgettes?

Me, firmly: No thanks, we have lots.

(He knows we have lots. Everyone has lots. Which is why he’s trying to palm some over the fence.)

Him: But your courgettes are so small. (He holds up a giant marrow for emphasis.) Here, have this big one. TAKE IT!

Me, maintaining a healthy distance from the fence: No thanks. I prefer them smaller.

Sometimes I offer him some of our courgettes, just to mess with him. Regardless, the outcome is usually the same: we settle on me taking a few cucumbers instead.

You may or may not live in a Bulgarian village, where the aggressive giving away of vegetables is considered sport. But if you have a garden, you probably have courgettes.

And if you have courgettes, you probably have too many courgettes.

Our first year of gardening, we foolishly planted six courgette plants. For a two-person household! It was like a horror movie. Every time I peeked outside, there were more of them. Growing. Lurking. The green truncheons of my nightmares.

We don’t grow nearly as many these days. But we still have to deal with the odd glut. Which is why I ran a semi-regular series on my old Auntie Bulgaria blog called, ‘What to do with all those courgettes’, listing useful recipes.

This is the latest incarnation of that list.

It features the recipes I turn to on the regular, or have my eye on. Do share your favourites in the comments. Together, we can ensure no unsuspecting neighbour has to endure the aggressive giving away of courgettes ever again. It’s my gift to the world. My legacy.

First up is Ottolenghi’s flavourful courgette, chickpea and herb pancakes (thick pancakes, that is, not crepe-style). Fellow vegans, top with the yoghurt of your choice.

Speaking of yoghurt, I give you Ozlem Warren’s garlicky courgettes and carrot with walnuts in yoghurt from her book Sebze. I made this recently for the first time and it’s delightful.

Jayne at aviewfrommykitchen

tells me her Turkish neighbour adds a little mayo to the yoghurt for extra richness – an idea I fully support.

For one-pan vibes, you can’t go wrong with briam, the Greek dish of baked sliced potatoes and courgettes with tomatoes. I’ve linked to the version I used to make years ago, but if you have Georgina Hayden’s book Nistisima, there’s a superior (chunkier) version in there. (Nistisima also has an amazing vegan keftedes recipe that features courgette.)

Up for a bit of frying? Sabrina Ghayour’s courgette fries with sumac salt are fun. Or, if you have Nigel Slater’s Tender Volume 1 (the vegetable one), I recommend the spiced carrot and courgette fritters (bhaji-eqsue). Sorry I can’t find an online link for that one.

On the basis that everyone loves a fritter, I really should write down our recipe for Greek-style (vegan) courgette balls. Until then, I have dabbled with and loved these courgette, cumin and lime fritters by

Kathy Slack

. (‘Dabbled’ in that I used dairy-free milk and yoghurt, and a flax egg in place of the egg.)

And for a salad, I really like the look of

Rachel Phipps

’ melting courgette and chickpea salad from her recent Substack. Not made it yet, but it’s on the list.

In terms of sweet stuff, this egg-and-dairy-free chocolate zucchini cake is an old favourite. It just works, and is beautifully moist.

Also, a fun tip: try replacing the mashed banana in your favourite banana bread recipe with grated courgettes. It works really well. You might want to up the sugar quantity a little, or add some chopped chocolate to the batter…

What (else) to eat this week: roasted courgette dip

Think baba ghanoush, but with courgettes.

There are lots of courgette dip recipes out there. Some involve blackening the courgettes over a gas flame, or charring them under a grill, or barbecuing. All excellent options. But I prefer this easier, tidier method. And if your courgettes are a little on the watery side, this method is definitely better.

The recipe will take as many courgettes as you want to throw at it. Music to a gardener’s ears! For that reason, I won’t be too exact about quantities, as it all depends how many courgettes you want to use. There are guidelines in the description.

• courgettes

• olive oil

• salt and pepper

• tahini

• lemon juice

• garlic

• za’atar (optional but excellent here)

Take as many courgettes as you can get your hands on. You want at least three big ones or five or six medium ones. Any less and you’ll end up with a tiny bowl of dip (see notes).

There’s no need to peel the courgettes, and it doesn’t really matter how you chunk them up, so long as you take out the seedy centre. Here’s how I do it: slice the courgettes in half lengthways and then in half lengthways again (so you have long quarters). Then slice along the flesh to remove the seedy centre. (Even if it’s not that seedy, still do it. Otherwise the dip might be watery.) You’ll be left with long, flat-ish pieces of courgette. Slice these into 2–3cm chunks and dump in a roasting tin.

Aim for chunks like this, with most of the seedy centre removed

Drizzle the courgettes with olive oil, salt and pepper, and roast in the oven at 200°C for 30–40 minutes. Basically, until the courgettes are soft and have a nice bit of colour to them.

Mash the courgettes roughly with a fork. You can do this in the roasting tin (or see notes).

Transfer the mixture to a bowl. Add a generous couple of tablespoons of tahini (or more if you’ve used a gazillion courgettes), a squeeze of lemon juice, and one or two crushed cloves of garlic, depending on your love of garlic. Mix thoroughly, stirring in the tahini until you have a baba ghanoush-style dip. Taste and add more salt, pepper and lemon if needed.

Top with a drizzle of olive oil and a sprinkle of za’atar.

Notes

• This is a great way to use up not-so-fresh courgettes. So if you don’t have loads of courgettes right now, you can happily leave them lying around in the kitchen until you amass a proper pile.

• If you want a super-smooth, silky dip, you can blend everything in a food processor.

• If for some reason you don’t have tahini (how do you even live?), I reckon this would be lovely with thick yoghurt instead. Different, but good-different.