Courgette Fritters

Well, it certainly has been a long time. Life got a little bit mental for a while, but I am now back in the North (good, as I was getting sick of Southern folk asking me to say "You know nothing, Jon Snow" in my accent) and getting back into the kitchen.
My feller's mum gifted us with some courgettes from the garden over the weekend so I've put them to us in these fritters, served with a load of veg. They make a nice, speedy mid-week tea, and you can easily adjust the recipe to what you like - try feta instead of cheddar, or different herbs.

Serves 2
What you need

2 small courgettes - about 250g
25g plain flour
1 egg
1 tsp fresh dill (or fresh herb of your choice!)
50g cheddar cheese
3 spring onions
a pinch of chilli flakes
1 clove garlic
salt
black pepper
something to fry in - I used 10g butter

What to do

First, coarsely grate your courgettes. This isn't as tedious as it sounds, as they grate surprisingly quickly. Spread them out on a clean tea towel, and sprinkle them with a decent pinch of salt. Leave them to it while you do the rest. They need to sit about 10 minutes so you might as well...

Chop your spring onions, the dill, and crush your garlic.

Put the flour, egg, spring onion, herbs, cheese, chilli flakes, garlic and black pepper in a mixing bowl.

Gather up the courgette in the tea towel, take it to the sink and squeeeeeeze for all it's worth, until you've got as much water out of it as you can. Whatever you do, don't skip this step as you won't have fritters, you'll have mush.

Mix it all to combine, until it's all come together. Start heating a large, non-stick frying pan on a medium-high heat, and add your oil/butter/whatever.

Add 4 dollops into the pan, and leave them for about 5 minutes per side. Scoop out and serve with a decent salad or a pile o veg - I've gone for carrots, peas, asparagus, mange tout and new potatoes (the entire contents of my veg tray basically).

Courgette, Chilli and Pine Nut Tagliatelle

We're on a bit of a weight loss mission at the moment, scary stuff. Soooo where my normal way of eating pasta is smothering it in cheese and sauce, I've been experimenting with some slightly less artery-fuzzing options. I did the courgettes in Fry-Light (that stuff makes me shudder slightly but it's a necessary evil) and by my maths it works out at under 500 calories per person.

The flavours in this are a bit of a swan-song to summer - it's almost autumn, in fact as I'm typing there's even a Christmas re-run of QI on in the background which is just making me feel all wrong. So may I present some  happy summertime type food before we all plunge back into dark and cold and misery.

Dead easy to veganise, just make sure your pasta is egg-free (most dried varieties are) and leave off the cheese.

Serves 2
What you need

2  medium-sized courgettes
200g tagliatelle (or whatever pasta you've got!)
1 medium-hot red chilli (finely chopped and seeds removed if you don't want too much heat)
2 cloves garlic (crushed)
a small handful of pine nuts (about 10-15g)
2 tbsps olive oil (or Fry-Light if, like us, you are a masochist)
juice of half a lemon (optional)
a few shavings vegetarian parmesan-style cheese
salt and pepper to taste

What to do

Courgettes first. Top and tail them then, with a potato peeler, thinly slice the two courgettes length-wise into ribbons.

Heat half of the olive oil (or depressing Fry-Light) in a ridged griddle pan. If you don't have a griddle pan, a normal non-stick frying pan will be absolutely fine but you won't get the dark ridge marks. When the pan is up to temperature lay out the courgette ribbons, turning when they are starting to brown. It won't take long because they're so thin! You'll probably need to do this in batches, unless you have a monstrous catering-size griddle pan, so pop them on a plate as they're done. It doesn't matter if they get cold, they'll warm back up when you eventually add them to the pasta.

In the mean time, heat a separate dry frying pan and add your pine nuts. Keep shaking the pan until they're evenly toasted all over, then put them on one side. At this point you should also start boiling a pan of water ready for the pasta.

In the same pan (no point creating extra washing up), add the rest of the olive oil, the garlic and the chilli. Keep a careful eye on it because you don't want it to brown, just to sweat slightly so you lose the harshness of the raw garlic. Put that on one side as well when done.

The pasta water will hopefully now be at a rolling boil, so add your tagliatelle and cook for however long the pack says, usually about 10 minutes. Drain it and put it back in the pan.

Toss the courgette ribbons, chilli, garlic and the lemon juice if using, as well as a decent amount of good-quality salt and pepper in with the tagliatelle - the heat from the pasta should warm the courgette etc. back up if it's gone a bit cold.

Plate up and sprinkle over the 'parmesan' shavings.

Now go and sit outside with a glass of chilled white wine and pretend we all live in Italy. Mmm.

Italian Bean and Tomato Salad with Halloumi

The evenings are getting lighter and sunnier, which for me means two things - white wine consumption has gone up by at least 50%, and the stews and soups of winter have been replaced by salads. However, I'm training for my first 10k run at the moment after months without any exercise whatsoever, and my body is so alarmed by this sudden activity that I'm absolutely bloody starving all the time.

This halloumi salad was perfect this evening when I came home from a run feeling like I could eat a bear (a vegetarian bear obviously), as it's refreshing and summery while still being substantial and filling.

Serves 2-3

What you need

A 225g block of halloumi cheese
A 400g tin of butter beans
200g small tomatoes (e.g. cherry or baby plum)
A large handful of fresh basil leaves
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
A pinch of chilli flakes
salt and pepper
A tortilla wrap per person (optional)

What to do

First make the bean and tomato salad. Empty the beans into a largish bowl and rinse off all the gungy can water. Next, blanch the tomatoes - cut a small cross shape in the base of each one, cover with boiling water for about 30 seconds, then plunge into cold water. The skins should then slip off really easily. Chop roughly into chunks and de-seed if you prefer. Add in with the beans.

For the dressing, roughly tear the basil leaves and add to the bean and tomato mix, before adding the olive oil, red wine vinegar, chilli flakes, garlic, salt and pepper. Give it all a good stir then refrigerate while you sort out the halloumi. It wants to be in the fridge for at least 15 minutes to allow all the flavours to mingle, so no rush.

Cut the halloumi into thick slices then either place under the grill or fry, as you prefer. I tend to grill them as then I'm not having to add extra fat to fry in and the heat's a bit more even.

Pile the bean salad on top of a tortilla wrap if using, then add the cooked halloumi.

Enjoy!

Creamy Stuffed Peppers

This is ideal for when you're doing the what's-in-the-fridge maths of an evening, as you can pretty much add anything you feel like adding. Those tomatoes that have seen better days, the bunch of spring onions that are starting to shrivel - whap them in and they'll be delicious.

If you can't get the pointy Romano peppers then normal ones are fine, just the Romano ones are sweeter. I teamed with some sautéed potatoes and salad.

Serves 2

What you need

1 tbsp olive oil
2 pointed Romano peppers
a bunch of spring onions, chopped
a finely chopped green chilli
2 large tomatoes, chopped
1 clove garlic
a splash of white wine
2 tbsp cous cous
2 tbsp stock
3 tbsp double cream
50g grated hard cheese

What to do

First, prepare the peppers by halving and de-seeding them. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees C.

Fry the chopped spring onions, chilli, tomatoes and garlic over a medium heat until softened and just starting to brown.

Stir in the cous cous, the stock and the wine and remove from the heat, covering the pan with a lid. Leave lidded for around 5 minutes to allow the cous cous to absorb the liquid, then stir in a tablespoon of the cream.

Place the pepper halves in a gratin dish and fill them with the cous cous mixture. Drizzle over the remaining 2 tablespoons of cream, and sprinkle over the grated cheese.

Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, until the cheese is melty and browning.

Enjoy!