Monday 25 August 2014

A recipe from her French mum.

 “ Gratin de courgettes” from Martine Lewis
I am going to let you in on a gorgeous French recipe using courgettes, my mum used to cook for us kids in summer with the unsold courgettes. It’s a dish I do often and never tire of. Plenty of courgettes right now in the garden so here it is. if you haven't tried it yet, have a go.
Ingredients:
1kg of courgettes (serves 3 people)
A little olive oil
1 biggish onion
1 garlic clove
1 bunch of flat parsley
Salt & pepper
1 tbs flour
½ glass of milk
50gr X2 of grated Emental cheese( or more if you love it!)
¼ glass bread crumbs
1- In a large saucepan( the courgettes will greatly diminish while cooking), fry the onion and garlic in the olive oil for a few minutes until golden.
2- Add the courgettes washed and sliced, peel and all if the courgettes are fresh. If they aren’t, get rid of half the peel. It’s easy to see if the courgettes are fresh, the skin should be shiny.
3- Toss for 10 minutes or so then add salt, pepper and parsley then cover and let simmer for ½ hour or until the vegetables are tender.
4- Take the lid off and let the water from the courgettes evaporate for a few minutes.
5- Once evaporated, bring the heat right down and add a tablespoon of flour and ½ glass of milk and stir well. You should have something that looks like a puree. At that point I often add a table spoon of mustard but mum never did.
6- Stir in half the grated cheese.
7- Take it out of the heat and pour the lot in an oven-proof dish.
8- Top with the breadcrumbs and the rest of the cheese and let it cook in the oven gaz mark 180 for between 35 to 45 minutes, or until brown. It’s yummy!