Courgette (or zucchini if you're Italian) are in abundance at this time of year!
If you have your own or are getting some from us you will no doubt reach maxed out courgette overload soon (if you haven't already).
Today I'm going to share a few quick tips on using up those courgettes and share with you my best (and fastest) recipes, because I'm all about speed and flavour.
As you can tell by my blog post, you don't have to scroll through half a mile of writing to find the recipes ;-)
First: Courgette quick fire - you're already making something, can you put courgette in it?! The answer is almost always yes!
Courgettes can go in a stirfry, casserole, soup, cake, smoothie or juice. You can fry them, bbq them, steam them, chop, dice, spiralise, or make them into little matchsticks (in French that's called julienne).
You don't even need a fancy spiraliser or mandolin, a potato peeler works great to make flat "zoodles" (pictured), eat them raw or lightly steam, season and add lemon juice, or my fav stir-fry style in a frying pan until they soften and use instead of noodles with mince or a curry.
Spiced Courgette
Great for breakfast lunch or dinner, especially if you've used the frying pan for something else and it's already hot (don't worry too much about cleaning it).
Cut rounds or lengths of courgette, sprinkle with spices and herbs of choice, salt and pepper.
Cook each side in some olive or coconut oil until brown and the softness/texture you prefer! I love turmeric, cumin and paprika with generous salt and cracked black pepper.
You can include a mixture of some or all of: turmeric, cumin, paprika, coriander, curry, dried herbs, fresh herbs, a splash of tamari sauce at the end adds a lovely element too.
A new flavour every time means it doesn't get old. Serve as a side dish or put your eggs or meat on top and use instead of toast or pasta.
Goldbush Courgette Cake
240g plain flour (I used a gluten free blend, add 1/2 tsp xanthan gum if gf flour doesn’t have it)
60g cocoa powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
240ml oil (I prefer olive or coconut)
120g coconut sugar
120g soft brown sugar
3 large eggs
60g milk of choice
1 tsp vanilla extract
350g-400g grated courgette
Preheat the oven to 180°C and grease and line a 22cm cake tin.
In a large bowl whisk together both sugars, eggs, milk, vanilla and oil until combined.
Add in grated courgette and mix until combined.
In a separate bowl add flour, xanthan gum if using, cocoa powder, baking soda and baking powder. Mix these together to combine.
Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and mix together until combined. Try not to overmix, but ensure no flour pockets remain.
If you want to, add your dark chocolate chips and fold them in, or sprinkle on top. Your batter should be a fairly thick mixture.
Pour into prepared cake tin.
Place in your oven for around 35-45 minutes until cooked through.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin before transferring to a cooling rack. This cake is moist and fudgy, so take care!
I drizzled some icing on top for effect but it's delicious without - especially if you've done the chocolate chips on top! You could equally split this between two tins and use your favorite ganache or buttercream icing and make this a super impressive fudgy chocolate cake for a special event.
I made this gluten free and dairy free by using gluten free flour and baking powder and using a nut mylk. It does have a lot of sugar, it also has a lot of cocoa, it's a rich dark cake, my kids love it though.
I hope you enjoy this decadent Chocolate Courgette Cake, let me know if you make it or have any questions,
Michelle