courgette, chickpea and feta salad

as usual, september in london is proving to be so much warmer and sunnier than august. this weekend i’ve spent some very peaceful time out in the garden, removing most of the leaves from my tomato plants in the hope that this will speed up the ripening of the many green tomatoes that remain, as well as having a leisurely outdoor lunch of crab and cherry tomato linguine with one of my favourite friends. david and i also spent a lovely sunday wandering through regent’s park, along the canal and up to marine ices for ice creams.

this courgette and chickpea salad is definitely something for these final sunny days, with its courgette ribbons and basil crème fraiche dressing. it’s from my newest cookery book, salads by peter gordon of providores. there’s a good range of cold weather salads that i’m looking forward to trying but in the meantime, this is perfect for these later summer days.

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pea, courgette and lentil salad

this salad has been a godsend for helping me make my way through the courgettes we have been growing, as well as the occasional few which make their way into my vegetable box from food4london.

there isn’t a recipe as such as it’s all about using up what you have in but, broadly, i make it like this – cook some puy lentils, adding a bay leaf to the cooking water/stock (or you could use tinned, rinse them well and then rinse with boiling water so they warm through). add some olive oil, lemon juice and mustard to the warm lentils to create a dressing – the heat of the lentils means they will absorb the dressing flavours more effectively.

cut the courgette into chunks and fry over a low heat in some melted butter until they are just cooked through. while the courgette is cooking, pod your peas and add them to the courgette pan so that some will be cooked and others still raw, adding a nice textural contrast. when the courgette is sufficiently cooked, add salt, freshly ground black pepper, shredded basil and a bit more lemon juice. mix this with the lentils and that’s it. unless of course you fancy oomphing it up with feta or goats cheese.

it keeps well and is good for packed lunches.

broad and green bean pasta with lemon and pink peppercorns

 

i had a wonderful treat earlier this week, i received my first broad beans of the season, squeaky fresh and completely delicious, courtesy of food4london.

my immediate temptation was to have them in a salad with the peas and courgettes which accompanied them but i had a real pasta craving so decided to try draw inspiration from an ottolenghi recipe which pairs them with lemon and pink peppercorns.

i added thinly sliced courgette discs and green beans to the mix and the result was a lovely pasta dish full of the flavours of summer. i am sharing this with graziana of erbe in cucina who is this week's host of presto pasta nights.

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courgette, parmesan and parma ham salad

my first courgette has been eaten! i’ve read lots of things about home-grown vegetables tasting so much nicer than bought ones and it was wonderful to be able to put this theory to the test at last.

i decided to take inspiration from a skye gyngell recipe and tossed courgette ribbons and parmesan shavings with some lemon juice and olive oil. i then layered the mixture with some parma ham (courgette, ham, courgette, ham) and topped it off with some mustard leaves which i also grew.

it tasted amazingly good – the courgette itself had a more distinct and “greener” flavour than shop-bought courgettes. this might be due to it being just-picked, slightly smaller than the ones you buy and, obviously, because of the tlc david and i have been giving to our garden as we try and grow some vegetables! the recipe also helped – one courgette made two ample starters and the flavours worked brilliantly together. skye suggests adding crème fraiche as well.

i have a second courgette on its way and can’t wait to try something else with that!

update: i used this same recipe for the second courgette, but added slices of avocado in the middle. much more filling but a good alternative.

first courgette

today i learnt about the difference between male and female courgette flowers - the female ones produce the courgette apparently. as soon as i got home i rushed into the garden to inspect my plant, expecting male flowers only but was thrilled to find this - my first courgette! i'm enjoying this gardening lark.

presumably this means i should remove the male flowers for cooking with - any and all advice on this welcome!