Anyone following me on Twitter will already know of my rather dramatic courgette situation. On return from holiday we found 5 monster courgettes, all roughly 50cm in length and weighing around 6lbs. Willow is pictured struggling to hold one. I have to confess to being somewhat daunted by this embarassment of riches but nonetheless, a glut brings out the best in me to here goes.
Yesterday we had courgette pasta for lunch and nut roast with grated courgette for dinner and I reluctantly prepared Marguerite Patten's Marrow and Ginger jam (obviously replacing the marrow with monster courgette), a recipe I derided last year being, as I am, not a lover of marrow or ginger.
This is the recipe as it appears in Marguerite's book, I scaled it up 5 (yes, 5!) times. This recipe makes roughly 750g of jam.
Marrow and Ginger Jam.
1lb marrow/courgette, peeled, seeds removed and chopped to 1.5cm dice
3tbsp chopped crystalized ginger
1lb sugar
1 tbsp lemon juice
Mix the marrow, ginger and sugar in a pan and leave overnight. The sugar will draw a large amount of liquid from the marrow. Stir well to extract as much liquid as possible. From then on it's standard stuff, heat to setting point and pot into sterilised jars. As there are large pieces of marrow it's advisable to allow the jam to cook somewhat before potting up in a vain attempt to distribute the pieces evenly so they don't all float to the top. I'm useless at getting that bit to work though.
I'm surprised how nice it is. Rather sweet for my taste (I seem to have become accustomed to tart wild fruit) but pleasant enough. It's a delicate, summery preserve, sunshine yellow in colour and, as the bland courgette tones down the fire of the ginger, gently warming on the palate. Very breakfasty I feel.
So that's 2 monsters dealt with, 3 more to go. One more batch of pickle I think followed by courgette bake for tea, then I may resort to stocking the freezer with courgette puree for future soup use.
wow, what a nice surprise, when you came home!
ReplyDeletewe also have a glut of courgettes (as i suspect do many people) I've been collecting recipes to make with them. I have planned courgette bread, someone gave me a cake recipe to try, also a chutney recipe but i suspect i may end up freezing some too.
I too returned home after a weekend away to discover 2 giant marrows hiding under the courgette leaves! Love this recipe, interestingly Sarah Raven has a version of it in her Garden Cookbook that adds lemon jelly and pineapple to the mix! I shall give it a go.
ReplyDeleteYou must come up North more often if that is the result.
ReplyDeleteHi Tracey nice to see you back. I haven't tried this but it sounds good and I thought it might be another way of using up the whoppers. How about Zucchini Bacon - don't know what its like but is taken from Bob Flowerdews Grow your own eat your own:-
ReplyDelete"My personal invention from my vegetarian days is fat zucchini bacon. Slice small marrows or courgettes or zucchini lengthwise into wide strips the thickness of your little finger, with one edge thinly peeled but leaving the peel along the other edge as a "rind". Soak the slices in brine for an hour or so then string them up to dry. Once they are dry but still maleable take them down and brush them with oil herbs and seasoning. Pack them together, tightly string them about and smoke them; then wrap them in brown paper, then tinfoil and put to mature in the fridge.
It really is nothing like bacon, but very good anyway".
I have many courgettes bursting from the plants about this size too...we are having raw courgette, cooked courgette, we've had it roasted, stir fried, on pizzas in mince....I think I will be going for a pickle or jam thing soon too.....why did i put in two plants?!?!?!
ReplyDeleteWhat an unusual recipe, thanks for that. I'll have a think about how to smoke them (I think I've got a 'smoking bag' thing in the cupboard) and may give that a go.
ReplyDeleteJust 2 plants Tanya? I've got 6! 'Fortunately', along with most things on our plot, they've struggled a bit, the first batch got caught in the late frost and were stunted, the second batch only got going just before the holiday. Last year we had mosaic virus and had no courgettes - who said they're easy to grow?!
has anyone a recipe for courgette/marrow and pineapple jam? I had one using tinned pineapple but must of lost it!!
ReplyDelete