10 Ways to cook Courgette - Dairy free

Courgette / Zucchini

Courgette is one of those vegetables, in my experience people either love or hate.  Mostly it's the texture that puts them off.   I've found that it's much better to prepare and eat this veggie fresh, rather than in pre-made meals.



1. Courgette Soup

The easiest way to try a new vegetable is to make it into soup.   I usually just make up my own recipes, depending on what I have on hand.  If your not keen on winging it, here are a few recipes you could try.

Simple Zucchini soup - (Veg web.com)

Courgette pea and pesto soup - (BBC Good Food Recipe)


2. Grilled/Fried

Grilled Courgette

If like me you also don't eat meat, it doesn't mean you need to feel left out at summer barbecues. Make them  more interesting by grilling fresh vegetables like courgette instead.  Use a separate part of the grill for veg or cook on tinfoil to stop cross contamination with the meat.  Try serving them in a veggie wrap

Alternatively here are a few more idea's.  

- Vegan Courgette Tempura (BBC Good Food)  Keep reading to the bottom of the recipe for the vegan tempura batter recipe.

- Vegetarian Courgette Frittata (Finely a Gary Rhodes recipe I can make) This recipe uses sliced courgette, you could change it up a little by using grated courgette.

- Vegetarian baked Courgette fritters (from Cooking with my kids)

- Vegan Courgette fritters  (Sweetest Vegan)  Found this blog when I started my vegan baking adventure.  Her web casts on You Tube were a great help xx

I made my own variation of courgette fritters this week by adding them to vegan pancake batter.  I cooked them on the stove top.  They tasted good but just wasn't happy with the texture.  Next time Id cook them in the oven.  Fried fritters would not agree with my digestive system

Or you could mix grilled courgettes through pasta and serve with a simple dressing.



Pasta With grilled Courgette


3. Condiments 

If you end up with the glut of courgette you could always preserve them.

Pasta with Courgette pesto

- Zucchini Pesto - Vegetarian recipe, to make dairy free leave out the Parmesan.  Adding a little lemon juice will help your pesto keep a little longer.  You could also freeze it into portions in an ice cube tray. 

- Courgette Chutney (River cottage recipe)

- Curried Pickled Zucchini recipe (Serious Eats)  I keep on coming back to this blog, it has a good variety of vegetarian recipes.  

4. Courgette Salad

Courgette can be served both raw or cooked in a healthy salad.  

- Carrot and Courgette Salad (Veg Web)

- Grilled courgette and carrot salad (Simon Rimmer Recipe)

- Carrot and Courgette a Scapece (Food network)

For a simple salad side dish, try adding raw grated courgette to some cooked Bulgar wheat or cous cous.  

5. Oven baked Courgette 

Courgette and olive pizza

 with a yogurt dressing

Iv had fun this week trying out as many different recipes as possible just using courgette.  I took inspiration for the one above from Vegetarian Courgette chilli and mint pizza

I used a corn tortilla for the base.  The courgette was really easy to cut into strips just using my vegetable peeler.  Instead of chilli I used sliced black olives, there saltiness compliments the sweetness of the courgette.  

Tip: keep any liquid left from dressing the courgette to make a yogurt topping.  I added a little mayonnaise and soya yogurt to the same bowl to make a simple creamy dressing for the pizza.  

- Green Vegan tart (Guardian on line web site) This uses pre-bought puff pastry, remember to check if it's dairy free.  

- Summer Vegetable Gratin  (Leites Culinaria) This recipe mixes different Mediterranean veg, you could just as easily make it just one or a variety of your personal favourite.

6. Italian style courgette recipes

Iv had courgette in ratatouille, but Iv never cooked it with pasta before.  I took some inspiration from the recipe below.  Very loose inspiration, the only thing they had in common was that they both used courgette and pasta.  

- Courgette and Lemon Linguine  from BBC Good Food

I added half a grated courgette some drained penne pasta, along with a little oil and salt and pepper.  I don't totally drain my pasta, I always like to keep it a little wet.  The starchy water helps the sauce stick to the pasta.  Loved this recipe perfect for a quick simple supper, hardly any work involved but bangs of flavour.

- Courgette and orzo pasta bake (BBC good food)  Vegetarian recipe, if like me you can't eat dairy then just leave out the cheese.  A little salt and pepper seasoning is all this one needs.  

- Zucchini Quinoa Lasagna  A vegetarian times recipe that replaces the pasta with sliced courgette.  Iv yet to see Quinoa in the local supermarkets.  If you can't find any replace it with red lentils instead.  

 7. Make a meal of courgette

I always end up with recipe that don't really fit with the rest of my categories.  

- Mushroom and Courgette rice pie (BBC Good Food)  This is a vegetarian recipe, that's easy to make dairy free. Leave out the cheese and swap the creme friache for dairy free yogurt.  

- Vegetarian Zucchini Pie Kolokithopita  (Greek food)  Vegetarian recipe using egg's and feta

- Lebanese Aubergine and Courgette curry  (Veg Web) I always sneak a curry recipe into my lists.  For a change this one isn't Indian.  

8. Home Baked Goodies with courgette

My main passion is making dairy free versions Traditional home baking.  Some times i like to get a little experimental though.  I adapted one of my Soda Bread recipes by reducing the liquid by 50 ml and adding 1/2 a grated courgette instead.  Along with a little salt, pepper and mustard to make mini savoury Soda bread scones.  

Has one today with some home made dairy free minestrone soup, they went together perfectly.  

- Grandma Tiny's Zucchini cookies   (Baking and boys)  A love cooking my grandma's old recipes and I'm not the only one.  It seemed right to include this one

- Montacute Lemon Courgette Cake Vegetarian recipe from the national trust that can be made dairy free.  Swap the egg for a substitute - 1/2 mashed banana, 1 Flax seed egg subb or 1 heaped tbsp of dairy free yogurt.  

- Vegan Chocolate Zucchini Cupcakes  (egg less cooking) A great site that proves you don't need eggs to bake a great cake.

- Courgette and Mushroom bread (BBC Good Food) Again this site keeps on coming up, it has a great selection of vegetarian recipes.  This recipe uses yeast, so it's not suitable if your intolerant like me

9. Courgette Desserts

Every good themed meal needs to end with Dessert, and courgettes are no exception.  

- Vegetarian Coconut Custard Zucchini pie (All recipes) Make this one vegan by using your own dairy free custard base.  

 - Zucchini Cobbler   (Taste of home)

- Zucchini Dessert Squares (Quilting board blog)

- Raw Coconut Cream pie

10. Further Inspiration 

I found 2 Internet Web Sites that had so many recipes to choose from, that they deserved there own section.

http://www.courgetterecipes.co.uk/  Part of the East seasonal network of food sites.  Who wouldn't love an Internet site totally devoted to one veg.  

http://www.abelandcole.co.uk  A company that delivers fresh boxes of organic fruit and veg.  Changing depending on the season.  There Internet site has some great recipes using courgettes.