(One too many) Courgette Salad

Supermarkets and packets.  Argh!  Yes they’re easy but over the next few weeks StorrCupboard will be thinking about those pre-packed bags of veg.  There’s often one courgette too many, and don’t get me started on those green peppers …

Courgette recipes have come a long way since my dear grannie used to boil hers until the veg and the water ran grey (food *my* grannie would recognise was cup-a-soup, stale Skips and overboiled everything).

So let’s think of the virtues of a courgette.  If it’s not too old, it should still have a nice texture, quite firm but not hard so it cooks really quickly; it has a mild flavour, so we can pair it with bolder flavours like olives, tomatoes, cheese, lamb.

Courgettes are, really, a late summer to autumn veg, because they need the warmth of the sun to bring them to ripeness.  Remember the price rise in courgettes back in February 2018?  That’s because your courgettes were likely imported from Spain and Italy outside of harvest (usually September – October in the UK, but god knows this year).  A drought was causing waste and pushing up the price of your little green goddess.  Chucking a veg that goes on a short-haul flight from drought ravaged fields just to get to you isn’t really on, so time for some StorrCupboard magic.

And it doesn’t get any easier than this: grate a not-too old courgette and add it to your salad.  Seriously.  Just use the wide side of your box grater and get busy.   Or if you have a speed peeler, make some long ribbons, like I did up here. The light mild flavour works beautifully – I had this cucumer, tomato and spinach mix with a little olive oil and salt.  And lots of hummus and bread.  Yum and waste averted.