Courgettes grow so quickly once a plant starts to produce them and we all have problems using so many of them. It feels like another one grows when you look away for just a few moments.
So how do I use them?
I use them in omelettes, pasta sauces, curries, soups, spaghetti bolognaise, chilli, pizza sauce, etc.
I also slice the courgettes and freeze them on a tray (without blanching), so they don’t stick together and then I put them in a freezer bag. They can then be used in the winters months, in all of the above meals. I just add them still frozen, straight from the freezer.
Another thing I do, is grate the raw courgettes (with the skin on) and freeze in 340 gram bags (without blanching). This way I can defrost the courgettes whenever I need to and make the following:
Easy Cheesy Courgette Scones:
450g self raising flour
2 level teaspoons of baking powder
340g grated courgettes (grated with the skin on)
112g margarine
Approx 10 tablespoons of milk
112g grated cheddar cheese
Preheat the oven Gas 7 / 220C / 425F
Put the grated courgettes in a clean tea towel or muslin and squeeze out as much juice as possible
In another bowl rub the margarine into the flour and baking powder until it looks like breadcrumbs
Add the grated cheese and courgette and mix, making sure the courgette doesn’t stick together in large lumps.
Add enough milk to make a soft dough that is not too sticky (add more flour if your dough is too sticky).
Roll out the dough 1cm thick and cut into rounds with a pastry cutter
(do not twist your cutter as this will give you funny shaped scones)
Place the scones on a greased baking tray and bake for 10-15 minutes. They should be a nice golden brown and well risen.
Butter and enjoy
I made fourteen scones and they only cost me 98p to make, as I grew my own courgettes.
That’s an incredible 7p per scone!
My daughter loves to take a scone to school everyday as a snack for breaktime, so I make a batch of scones every other weekend. After they have cooled down, I cut them in half and butter them and then I open freeze them on a tray. When they are frozen I put them in a freezer bag. This way I can just pop a frozen scone into her lunch box each morning and it will be defrosted by breaktime, ready to eat.
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Yesterday I picked some basil and it’s now drying in my kitchen.
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To dry basil, all you need to do is pick it in the morning
( this is when the most oil is in the leaves)
Wash it under the tap and dry it off between two clean tea towels
Hang it up, somewhere light and airy and leave for approximately four weeks
It should crumble easily when fully dried and then put it in a sterilised jar
(to sterilise, place the jar in an oven for 5 minutes, gas mark 4).
It’s as easy as that!
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Below are some interesting things about Basil that you may not know:
The first written history of basil appears to date back 4,000 years to when it was grown in Egypt.
The name basil is derived from the medieval Latin form of the Greek word for “King” or “Kingly”.
In Iran, Malaysia and Egypt basil is often considered a love token and is planted on graves.
In Ancient Greece and Rome, basil was associated with poverty, hate and misfortune due to the belief that basil would only prosper where there was abuse.
Also, in Ancient Greece, when planting basil seeds, there was much shouting and cursing which later led to the French coining the phrase ‘semer le basilic’, which means to slander.
In Crete, basil was considered an emblem of the devil and was placed on most window-ledges as a charm against his influence.
Basil was ironically also thought to be a useful tool in determining chastity – it would wither in the hands of the impure.
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The above information came from a website called ‘Ourherbgarden.com’. Here’s the link:
http://www.ourherbgarden.com/herb-history/basil.html
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I hope you enjoyed reading todays post
I found this post really informative. Sometimes it’s hard to know what to do with a glut, you have given me ideas for courgettes. I’ll certainly try drying my own basil too.
Thanks Jean, I’m glad it’s helped. By the way i’ve been enjoying reading your blog too.
hello
the scones look delicious and makes my mouth watering.thanks for the recipe.
great blog!!!
greetings regina
Thanks regina, that’s very kind of you.
The scones are very delicious the whole family loved them . Have also made some and put in the freezer as my hubby loved them that much he has got me making them so he can take to work .
Wow you have been busy. They freeze really well…I butter them before freezing as it’s easier that way for me. I love recipes like this that are easy but taste wonderful.
Delicious . Just made them and had them with soup.
So glad you liked them…i’ve never thought to have them with soup – what a good idea, thank you!
Courgette Lasagne
2 courgettes grated
1 onion chopped
2 garlic crushed
crushed chillis (to taste)
sundried tomatoes (1 tbsp)
red pesto (to taste)
bottled pasta sauce
9 sheets of lasagne
béchamel sauce
parmesan cheese
Cook onions in large frying pan for 5 mins. Add garlic and chillies, and cook for a further minute then add courgettes and cook until soft and bright green. To the courgette mix add pasta sauce, pesto and sundried tomatoes. When heated through put 1/3rd in the bottom of a lasagne dish and shop with lasagne sheets. Repeat until courgette sauce is used up. Made a béchamel sauce to cover lasagne sheets and top that with parmesan cheese. Cook for 30 mins in 200 oven.
Hope someone else gets to enjoy this easy recipe. Instead of buying a ready made sauce obviously you could make your own quite quickly.
Sound lovely Jacqui, thank you for posting this. You are right about homemade sauces…it’s far quicker to make the sauce than going to the shops to buy one lol
This recipe looks great but wanted to ask about freezing the grated courgette- do you squeeze the excess water out before freezing or once they are thawed?
Hi manygatemama…sorry for my late reply (I have been engrossed in my decorating). I grate the courgette and then freeze it in the quantities required for the scones. After the courgette is defrosted I then squeeze the water out ready to use in the scones.
Hope that helps? Let me know how you get on with the scones
Thank you and will do. I’m an allotment novice so there’s a lot to learn! We picked 8 courgettes last night so I shall be grating and freezing a good few bags today!
Made this recipe today with my three year old and they turned out beautifully. I used plain wholemeal flour too. Delicious! Love the idea of freezing them already buttered too.
Many thanks, this recipe is a keeper :0)
That is brill…glad you liked them too. I was thinking,I also freeze courgettes ready sliced so I can also use a few in omelettes/ spag bogs / pasta sauces etc. when I want to (it’s best to ‘open freeze’ them on a tray before bagging them up so they don’t stick together)…if you have too many
Yes I saw that and have done a couple of tray’s worth. I presume they are fine to use, even without blanching? That process looks very time consuming :0/
Yes the courgettes are fine to use without blanching them- infact I had bags of them in my freezer for months before we finished using them lol and they were absolutely fine
I have a recipe in an old freezer book called courgette Milano. I make lots and use it as a base for pasta sauces throughout the year. The recipe is as follows but I sometimes use onions rather than spring onions or add peppers, anything you want really.
2 tbs olive oil
1 lb courgettes cut into half inch slices (I sometimes chop them into small pieces)
6 chopped spring onions
1 crushed garlic clove
Half teaspoon dried basil (I use fresh)
Pinch of paprika
4 tomatoes (skinned) – have done it without peeling
1 tbs tomato purée
2 tbs white wine (I only use this if I have some open)
Grated Parmesan cheese to finish (but I don’t usually add this)
METHOD
Heat oil, add courgettes, spring onions and garlic and cook for 3 minutes.
Stir in remaining ingredients adding salt and pepper to taste. Bring to boil, cover pan and simmer for about 15 minutes.
TO FREEZE
Cool and pack in foil containers, cover, label and freeze.
TO THAW
Tip frozen veg into large saucepan, reheat gently.
She hot sprinkle with Parmesan cheese
OR LIKE I DO USE AS A BASE FORCA PASTA DISH.
IF YIU WATN A SPICY DISH ADD CHILLIES
Hope you find this recipe useful – as I have said above adapt it to how you like but it does use lots of courgettes up!
Sounds lovely, thank you so much for the recipe XXX
Hi, I found your blog when looking up how to freeze courgettes. Great info, thanks!
I usually use a potato peeler to get long strips of courgette to add to stir-fries at the last minute (same with carrots). Super easy way of adding non-crunchy veg 🙂
Really great tip Amanda and thank you for reading my blog.
I think you are AWESOME!! I have used your site so much in the past week! Thanks so much gor sharing your knowledge & wisdom and for putting things in terms that everyone can understand. Blessed be!