Invasion of the courgettes

You turn your back on them for one day and they have taken over. The invasion of the courgettes has begun.

 Time to once again delve deeply into the recipe searches to find something interesting to do with them.

Today's courgette recipe idea is courtesy of the Smitten Kitchen website.  I found this by following a link from a link from a link, a chain that started by clicking on the 'next blog' button on the taskbar - a sure fire way to get lost in space for a couple of hours.

I am making an adaptation of her ratatouille tart.

Courgette Tart


On this occasion I am in complete agreement with the smitten kitchen, summer is too short for making pastry, so I am using ready rolled feuillette pastry - a type of puff pastry readily available in the chiller cabinet here in France.

Roll out over a baking tray, and smear on a fine layer of tomato puree.

Then layer on thin slices of aubergine and courgette.

Add a sliced ripe and and juicy tomato, then drizzle with a little garlic infused olive oil, and some freshly ground black pepper.

Just before baking, add some mozzarella roughly torn into chunks and a generous spinkle of dried or fresh basil leaves.

°

Bake at 180°C for 30 minutes.

Serve warm or cold for a summery lunch or as we are tonight, as a side dish for some barbequed pork chops.

Day 2 - Aubergine and potato layer bake

This is a bit of a made up recipe from my larder

Augergine and Potato Layer Bake

(because I love one pot cooking)

serves 2

Slice one large aubergine thinly, place in a sieve, salt and set aside to allow juices to drain

Slice one large potato equally thinly, as well as a large onion

Mix some lean beef mince with some tomato puree, teaspoon of paprika, teaspoon of garlic powder, and some oregano, then season

Make up 500 ml of veg stock

Rinse the aubergine well, then layer into an over proof dish, aubergine, then potato, then onion, add the meat, then layer onion, aubergine and potato on top

Finish with some mozzarella, a tomato and some black pepper

Then bake for 1 hour at 180°C

Right - I'm off to eat the fruits of my labours having spent an hour this afternoon catching up with paperwork, and organising myself neatly - got fed up of searching for things all over the place, putting them into those poly pockets only for them to slide about all over the place, including down the back of the bookcase!

I went to the market and I bought ....... some aubergines

I went to the flea market this morning and apart from some more material, some shoes for me, some shoes for Bren, some shoes for Thea (my - that's a lot of shoes!) I also bought a couple of kilos of aubergines.

I like aubergines, but not everyone else does, so I have to be creative in how I use them.

One of our favourites is Moussaka - just like lasagne but different.

Here is my quick and easy recipe - I normally make enough for two, freeze one and eat one.

Moussaka

For the base:

2 chopped onions
4 crushed garlic cloves
2 generous glugs of olive oil
1kg lean lamb mince - or whatever you have, but lamb is more authentic
1 glass red wine
2 tbsp tomato purée, or one of those little 40g tins
400g can chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp chopped fresh oregano
3 large aubergines

 OK - this is not exactly one pot cooking - but almost - 1 frying pan and an oven proof dish.

Slice the aubergines and fry for a couple of minutes each side in olive oil, place in the bottom of the pan and ditch the oil.  In fresh oil fry the onions and garlic then add the meat.
If your mince is fatty, drain some of this off as it cooks - I know my dog loves a bit of extra fat on his boring biscuits.
Layer the meat onto the aubergine, then in the frying pan add the red wine, tomato purée, canned tomatoes,  and oregano, just heat through, stirring to mix it all together then pour over the meat and aubergines.
If I have a couple of soft tomatoes in the bowl I normally slice them in now as well.
 

For the topping:

75g plain flour
600ml milk
50g Parmesan, finely grated
pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
2 medium eggs, beaten

Melt the butter over a gentle heat, then add the flour, stirring all the time with a whisk until you get a thick paste, turn off the heat and pour in the milk a bit at a time, whisking all the time, add the parmesan, and season - I normally chuck in a couple of pinches of dried oregano too, just because I like the green flecks in the sauce.  When the sauce has cooled slightly and thickened, add the eggs, then pour over the base.

Bake at 180C for an hour.