August is a month of bounty and I have lucked out these past few weeks.
I have had a kilo of blackcurrants delivered, come across some stunning heirloom tomatoes and been given free rein in an allotment positively groaning with courgettes.
Courgettes are endlessly versatile and lend themselves to a great range of dishes but my absolute favourite is stuffed courgette flowers. A bit fiddly, but well worth the little bit of extra effort.
Make sure the courgette flowers are as fresh as can be. Ideally, they should be picked and cooked the same day as they wilt in an instant and can become very difficult to stuff without tearing.
First, remove the stamen by pinching it between a finger and thumb and gently removing it without damaging the petals.
It’s always worth checking for beasties too. Just give them a little shake to dislodge them.
The filling is made by toasting some bread crumbs with salt and pepper until warm and a little crisp, but not coloured. Their higher temperature will help to bind the filling.
You can use any cheese you like really, as long as there is a little cream cheese or ricotta in there to help it all come together.
Use amazing cheese for this courgette dish
I used half a Wee Comrie from Strathearn Cheese Co, which is a soft and delicately flavoured Camembert-style cheese, some grated Gouda that was a substitution for Gruyere in my supermarket shop, and a couple of tablespoons of cream cheese to bind.
I then added a handful of chopped basil, a little lemon zest and a grated garlic clove. It’s easier to mix this with your hands until all the ingredients have come together.
Take a small amount of the mixture and roll into a sausage shape and place inside the courgette flower. Twist the top of the petals gently to seal, being careful not to break them. Dip in a batter made from plain flour, salt and chilled sparkling water. Drop into a deep-fat fryer or pan of oil heated to 180 degrees. Cook for 3-4 minutes and drain on kitchen paper. Serve sprinkled with sea salt and eat immediately.
As tempting as it was to create another deep-fried courgette dish, I restrained myself and instead sliced a courgette into discs, brushed with oil and grilled for three minutes each side in a griddle pan. I arranged this on a plate with sliced tomatoes, seasoned them well and added home-pickled shallots and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. This bright and punchy salad works great as a side to grilled meats or fish.
Courgette also freezes well cut into discs as long as it has first been blanched in boiling water, then plunged into ice water and drained on a clean tea towel or kitchen paper.
The blanching helps to preserve the flavour and texture and, without it, your defrosted veggies will be mushy and lose their colour.
Place the dried courgette discs on a sheet of greaseproof on a baking tray and freeze (I learned the need for greaseproof the hard way). When frozen, remove and bag up with the date clearly marked. They should last up to three months like this.
Grated courgette for cakes and fritters can be prepped in the same way, but make sure that you squeeze out as much moisture as possible before freezing.
Back in time
Food and memory are strongly entwined, with the olfactory part of the brain actually being linked to the digestive system. A throwback to when we were all foragers and had to know by smell what was edible and what was potentially deadly.
We all have that one food or flavour that transports us to another place. Blackcurrants are my trigger food, and when a friend stopped by with a box of shiny, black pearls of juiciness, I was immediately taken back to my granny’s garden in the 1970s. Despite not being much of a cook, she always grew blackcurrants. I don’t even remember her doing anything with them, but the sour, sweet smell of the leaves alone are incredibly evocative of simpler times, when I was dressed head to toe in polyester sitting on her back doorstep, fingers stained with the juice of my spoils.
Although jam is the obvious use for a glut of blackcurrants, I received them on what was the hottest day of the year and the thought of standing over a pan of boiling sugar, when the internal temperature was already pushing toward 30 degrees, was singularly unappealing.
Blackcurrant sorbet recipe
I decided, instead, on sorbet – deceptively easy, with no need for an ice cream maker, and perfect for such a hot day.
Put around 500g of the fruits into a pan with 200ml of water, 5 tbsp of caster sugar and bring to the boil. When cooled, whizz the mixture and then strain through a sieve. If it is very thick, let it down with a generous glug of cassis – or water, if you prefer – and shred in a handful of chopped, fresh, mint leaves.
Stir well and pour into a shallow plastic container and place in the freezer. After an hour or so, remove and stir again with a fork to break up any ice crystals.
Do this a couple of times more before leaving overnight. Serve with more mint and some fresh blackcurrants.
Conversation