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Authors: Elizabeth David, Jill Norman
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and no more interesting than nursery cabbage.
N.B. It should go without saying that since the size and the thickness of courgettes vary a good deal, the cooking time may also need a little adjustment.
COURGETTES WITH LEMON SAUCE
Simmer very small whole courgettes (500 g/i lb) for 4 people), topped, tailed and washed but not peeled – or use larger courgettes, sliced as for the recipe above – in a heavy enamel-lined saucepan or small casserole with 4 tablespoons of olive oil, plus enough water just to cover the courgettes. Cooking time will beabout 30 minutes or until the courgettes can be pierced easily with a fork but still retain a certain crispness and bite. Sprinkle them with salt and powdered cinnamon. Drain off the liquid, reserving it. Transfer the courgettes to a dish.
Mix a teaspoonful of arrowroot, rice flour, cornflour or potato flour with a tablespoon of cold water. Add about 150 ml (¼ pint) of the cooking liquid left from the courgettes. Reheat gently until the sauce has thickened slightly and looks translucent and gelatinous. Add the juice of a lemon and seasonings. Pour over the courgettes. Serve cold, sprinkled with parsley. This is one of the rare courgette dishes which is not spoiled by a short spell in the refrigerator.
N.B. It is essential that the initial cooking of all dishes to be served cold in the Greek manner be done in olive oil, never in butter.
The following recipe does not sound very much like a cold first course vegetable dish. Anyone who can be patient enough to read through it will see that it is indeed a vegetable dish – plus eggs – to be eaten cold.
TIAN OR GRATIN OF COURGETTES , TOMATOES AND EGGS
This is one version – entirely my own and a much simplified one – of a Provençal country dish called a tian . The tian takes its name from the round earthenware gratin dish used for its cooking; and the ingredients which go into it are variable and very much dependent upon individual taste as well as upon family and local tradition. Green vegetables and eggs are the constants. Tomatoes are almost inevitable, rice or potatoes are quite frequently included. And the tian is, like the Spanish omelette or tortilla and the Italian frittata, very often eaten cold as a picnic dish, or as a first – or only – course for the summer midday meal.
Please do not be daunted by the length of the recipe which follows. Once this dish has been mastered – and it is not at all difficult – you find that you have learned at least three dishes as well as a new way of preparing and cooking courgettes.
The ingredients of my tian are: 500 g (1 lb) of courgettes, 750 g (1½ lb) of tomatoes (in England use 500 g (1 lb) of fresh tomatoes and make up the quantity with Italian tinned whole peeled tomatoes and their juice), 1 small onion, 2 cloves of garlic, fresh basilwhen in season, and in the winter dried French marjoram or tarragon, 4 large eggs, a handful (i.e. about 3 tablespoons) of grated Parmesan or Gruyère cheese, a handful of coarsely chopped parsley, salt, freshly milled pepper, nutmeg. For cooking the courgettes and tomatoes, a mixture of butter and olive oil.
The quantities given should be enough for 4 people but the proportions are deliberately somewhat vague because the tian is essentially a dish to be made from the ingredients you have available. If, for instance, you have 250 g (½ lb) only of courgettes, make up the bulk with 4 tablespoons of cooked rice, or the same bulk in diced cooked potatoes.
To prepare the courgettes, wash them and pare off any parts of the skins which are blemished, leaving them otherwise unpeeled. Slice them lengthways into four, then cut them into i-cm (1½-in) chunks. Put them at once into a heavy frying pan or enamelled cast-iron skillet or gratin dish, sprinkle them with salt, and set them without fat of any kind over a very low flame. Watch them carefully, and when the juices, brought out by the salt, start to seep out, turn the courgettes with a
N.B. It should go without saying that since the size and the thickness of courgettes vary a good deal, the cooking time may also need a little adjustment.
COURGETTES WITH LEMON SAUCE
Simmer very small whole courgettes (500 g/i lb) for 4 people), topped, tailed and washed but not peeled – or use larger courgettes, sliced as for the recipe above – in a heavy enamel-lined saucepan or small casserole with 4 tablespoons of olive oil, plus enough water just to cover the courgettes. Cooking time will beabout 30 minutes or until the courgettes can be pierced easily with a fork but still retain a certain crispness and bite. Sprinkle them with salt and powdered cinnamon. Drain off the liquid, reserving it. Transfer the courgettes to a dish.
Mix a teaspoonful of arrowroot, rice flour, cornflour or potato flour with a tablespoon of cold water. Add about 150 ml (¼ pint) of the cooking liquid left from the courgettes. Reheat gently until the sauce has thickened slightly and looks translucent and gelatinous. Add the juice of a lemon and seasonings. Pour over the courgettes. Serve cold, sprinkled with parsley. This is one of the rare courgette dishes which is not spoiled by a short spell in the refrigerator.
N.B. It is essential that the initial cooking of all dishes to be served cold in the Greek manner be done in olive oil, never in butter.
The following recipe does not sound very much like a cold first course vegetable dish. Anyone who can be patient enough to read through it will see that it is indeed a vegetable dish – plus eggs – to be eaten cold.
TIAN OR GRATIN OF COURGETTES , TOMATOES AND EGGS
This is one version – entirely my own and a much simplified one – of a Provençal country dish called a tian . The tian takes its name from the round earthenware gratin dish used for its cooking; and the ingredients which go into it are variable and very much dependent upon individual taste as well as upon family and local tradition. Green vegetables and eggs are the constants. Tomatoes are almost inevitable, rice or potatoes are quite frequently included. And the tian is, like the Spanish omelette or tortilla and the Italian frittata, very often eaten cold as a picnic dish, or as a first – or only – course for the summer midday meal.
Please do not be daunted by the length of the recipe which follows. Once this dish has been mastered – and it is not at all difficult – you find that you have learned at least three dishes as well as a new way of preparing and cooking courgettes.
The ingredients of my tian are: 500 g (1 lb) of courgettes, 750 g (1½ lb) of tomatoes (in England use 500 g (1 lb) of fresh tomatoes and make up the quantity with Italian tinned whole peeled tomatoes and their juice), 1 small onion, 2 cloves of garlic, fresh basilwhen in season, and in the winter dried French marjoram or tarragon, 4 large eggs, a handful (i.e. about 3 tablespoons) of grated Parmesan or Gruyère cheese, a handful of coarsely chopped parsley, salt, freshly milled pepper, nutmeg. For cooking the courgettes and tomatoes, a mixture of butter and olive oil.
The quantities given should be enough for 4 people but the proportions are deliberately somewhat vague because the tian is essentially a dish to be made from the ingredients you have available. If, for instance, you have 250 g (½ lb) only of courgettes, make up the bulk with 4 tablespoons of cooked rice, or the same bulk in diced cooked potatoes.
To prepare the courgettes, wash them and pare off any parts of the skins which are blemished, leaving them otherwise unpeeled. Slice them lengthways into four, then cut them into i-cm (1½-in) chunks. Put them at once into a heavy frying pan or enamelled cast-iron skillet or gratin dish, sprinkle them with salt, and set them without fat of any kind over a very low flame. Watch them carefully, and when the juices, brought out by the salt, start to seep out, turn the courgettes with a
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