Wanstead dinners, VII: Courgette supper

Wansteadium food blogger Suki Orange writes: Is it warm woolly tights time yet? Some days it really is. But I find it hard to give up completely on the tastes of summer – I want to hang on to every last morsel of ripened vegetables and fruit. So I’m glad that Karen Poole’s recipe below makes the most of this – I hope you enjoy it.

Karen writes: This recipe fell at my feet while on a walk the other day near Pleshey. We came across an honesty table covered with sunny, bright-yellow courgettes. And, as I love an honesty table, I couldn’t resist bulk-buying as everything looked so beautiful and fresh.

This cheap and cheerful recipe is light on preparation but high on taste and brimming with goodness. It does need a little attention during the cooking though as yellow courgettes can take a long time to soften, so be careful not to overcook the filling in the process. Blanching the prepared courgettes beforehand and covering the dish with foil for the first 20 minutes will do the trick..

You can also use the stuffing for peppers, tomatoes, aubergine or whatever takes your fancy.

Ingredients ( serves four )

2 large yellow courgettes
1 medium onion, chopped
1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
1 large chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
2 medium mushrooms, chopped
1 tbsp of grated fresh parmesan
1 cup of cooked brown rice
80g of toasted pine nuts
1 handful of chopped parsley
1 egg ( optional)
1 dsp of breadcrumbs
salt and black pepper

Method
Preheat the oven to 180c or Gas Mk 4.
Cut the courgettes in half and scoop out the middle, put the flesh aside.
Blanch the courgettes in boiling water for 5 minutes.
Gently fry the onion, garlic and chilli until soft and add in the chopped tomato
Cook for a further 3 minutes.
Put the cooked garlic, onion, chili and tomato mix with the remaining vegetable ingredients into a bowl with the courgette middles, add in the cheese, rice, pine nuts and beaten egg to bind (optional) and then mix well.
Divide the mixture between the courgette boats.
Top with breadcrumbs, drizzle with olive oil, cover with kitchen foil and put into a medium oven for about 20 minutes.
Remove the foil and cook for a further 20 minutes to brown the breadcrumbs.
Grate a little more cheese over the stuffed vegetables and serve with a salad of
mixed leaves and dress with lemon, olive oil and balsamic vinegar glaze.

Health Benefits

Courgettes are a good source of Beta Carotene the precursor to vitamin A and can
help
• bone development
• hormone synthesis
• maintenance of mucus membranes including skin, hair and eyes.
• the ability to fight infection
• the ultilisation of iron

Brown rice offers Biotin to aid
• cell growth
• fat & glucose metabolism
• hair & nail development

Eggs offer B12 to protect the gut lining & bone marrow

Chili provide B1 to increase energy metabolism & collagen synthesis

Karen Poole Dip Nutrition CNM MBANT can be contacted at K.E.Poole@hotmail.com Or www.karenpoolenutrition.co.uk
You can also follow Karen on Twitter – @karenpoole7