Three medium courgettes from the single plant in the garden and five eggs made up this handy end-of-season dish adapted from Carluccio’s Vegetable book.
More scrambled eggs than omelette or frittata–it an attractive way to use some of the courgettes queueing up to be used as the glut develops.
serves 4 as a light lunch
3 medium courgettes
1 onion–sliced thin
3 tbsp olive oil
4 eggs–beaten
50gm/2oz parmesan cheese–grated
2 tbsp parsley–chopped
1 tbsp mint (if available)–chopped
salt and pepper
To prepare the courgettes–peel them in stripes, quarter them lengthwise and cut them in dice.
Sprinkle with salt and leave them to drain in a sieve or colander for an hour or so.
Dry them in kitchen paper or a tea towel.
Heat the oil in a pan big enough to hold all the courgettes in a single layer.
Sauté the onion over a low heat until it softens and then add the courgettes, turning them over in the oil.
Cook them until they are tender–about 20 minutes.
Break the eggs into a mixing bowl and whisk them together.
Mix in the parmesan, the parsley and mint (if using), season with salt and pepper–more pepper than salt, bearing in mind the courgettes have been salted already.
Pour the egg mix over the courgettes and start turning it over gently as the eggs solidify.
This will not take long–it’s ready when the the mix is loosely solid–scambled in fact!
Take care not to cook it too solid!
Meredith toasted two pieces of wholewheat bread and sprinkled some olive oil over them to eat with these courgette “eggs”.
Robin Ellis 