Eat Write Love
NICKY TORODE & SONJA COLMAN of Creative Concoctions – a local social enterprise, boosting creative health
Courgettes, or zucchinis as they’re known in other parts, are the perfect summer ingredient. Colourful, healthy, versatile and surprisingly light! Maybe you pass them by in the supermarket wondering what else you can make with them?
Wonder no more! Try this mouth- watering courgette tart – guaranteed to bring out the urge for a picnic in the park. Come on sun! We’re so ready!
Journaling #1: Dear Courgette… [3 mins]
- Let’s confess! Write a quick note to a courgette. Declare your love – love at first bite? Or is it more a make-up letter: sorry for leaving you on the shelf!
- Have fun!
Fun Facts
- Courgettes are a fruit as they come from a flower (which can also be eaten)
- Courgettes are relatively new to the UK, making an appearance on our tables in the 1960s
- They have more potassium than a banana.
- Courgettes are 95% water, but high in fibre and nutrients!
Nutrition info:
- Vitamin A – supports eye health
- Vitamin C – supports immunity and protects against oxidative damage
- Potassium – supports muscles and heart health
- Low GI as mainly water and a high fibre content, so good for stabilising blood sugars
Courgette and Cottage Cheese Tart (Serves 4)
Courgettes can be eaten raw, steamed, griddled, fried, baked or grated – as in this delicious tart:
Ingredients:
- 2 large courgettes (any colour)
- 1 packet of ready-rolled puff pastry
- 1 egg
- 250g cottage cheese
- 1 lemon
- large handful of fresh basil, or a jar of pesto
- salt & pepper
- 50g pine nuts
Method:
- Grate 1½ of the courgettes into a bowl and then thinly slice the remaining half into rounds.
- Take the grated courgettes, wrap them in a thin cloth (muslin works best as it is so thin) and squeeze out as much of the excess water as possible. Leave in a sieve to continue draining whilst you prepare the other ingredients.
- Warm a griddle pan, if you have one, or a frying pan will do just as well. Lightly fry your courgette rounds on a high heat to get a bit of colour on both sides – leave to one side.
- Heat oven to 180oC
- Grease a baking tray and lay your pastry on it. Score a line 2cms from the edge all around the pastry to create a square inside the pastry.
- Beat the egg and brush over the bottom of the pastry, and, using a fork, prick small holes over the pastry base – inside that square you have marked.
- Put in the oven for a few minutes to pre-bake – around 5 minutes should do it.
- In the meantime, put the now fully drained courgette into a bowl, add the cottage cheese, zest of half the lemon and either the basil, shredded, or a couple of teaspoons of the pesto (you can add more of both the lemon or the basil/pesto to taste). Season.
- Mix these ingredients together, by which time the pastry should have had a chance to pre-bake. The pre-baking helps stop the bottom of the pie going soggy.
- Remove the pastry from the oven and spread the courgette and cottage cheese mixture over it.
- Place your courgette rounds on the top, and sprinkle with pine nuts and an extra pinch of salt and pepper.
- Pull the edges of the pasty over the sides of the filling and brush with the remaining egg.
- Place back in the oven for about 20 minutes until the top takes on a pale golden colour.
- Serve with a tomato salad.
Substitutes
- Swap cottage cheese for ricotta.
- Other herbs can work instead of basil or pesto: mint, thyme or oregano – dried versions of all of these would be delicious.
- Puff pastry is notoriously difficult to make at home so it’s best to use shop bought. Alternatively, a homemade shortcrust would also work well.
- Pine Nuts work really well with these ingredients, but you could use walnuts, or sunflower seeds.
Storage
The tart is fine to keep in the fridge for 2-3 days, but it won’t freeze well!
JOURNALING #2 Once upon a picnic [5 mins]
- Bring on summer by writing into a fond food memory of a picnic gone by.
- On the beach? In the park? In your own garden? Recall the foods you ate, helped prepare. Wander into the anticipation of the picnic. Who packed the blanket? Did you forget the forks?
- And if some of those memories remind you of loved ones no longer here, what heartening sentence can you write now that captures what you loved about them?
JOURNALING # 3 Action!
- Grate, slice, action!
- Ever tried a yellow courgette? Pick up different colours next time you’re shopping. Add to favourite dishes such as pasta, salads or stir fries. Surprise your taste buds to boost your wellbeing!
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