Have you ever bought one of these?
And then after a few salad days it looks like this?
Well if you stick it outside in the sun (if such a thing
should occur) and water it occasionally (if it doesn't rains as much as usual)
and have a friendly chat with it now and then it will, after a week or two,
look like this ...
Which is quite a saving, n'est pas?
My friend Carol who knows a bit about plants and stuff says
it would better still if planted in the garden and as soon as/if ever our
garden is sorted out I will do just that.
Carol also gave me a couple of courgettes from her garden,
just babies with the flowers still attached ...
... so I had a delicious impromptu lunch.
Tagliatelle with Courgettes, Lemon & Chilli for one
1 lovely fresh
courgette from a friend
½ tbsp olive oil
½ tsp crushed garlic
finely grated zest of
half a lemon
juice of half a lemon
a few chilli flakes
to taste
90ml or so double
cream
1 tbsp freshly grated
parmesan cheese
a handful of cooked
tagliatelle
~ Cut the courgette into julienne aka matchsticks.
~ Sauté in the olive oil together with the garlic and
when touched with colour but still a bit crisp stir in the zest, chilli flakes
and juice and scrape the result onto a clean plate whilst making the sauce
(this means the courgette won't overcook in the meantime).
~ Add the cream to the recently vacated pan, bring to a
simmer and stir in the parmesan, continue simmering for a few seconds longer
till thick and then stir in the cooked pasta.
~ Once the pasta is hot add the cooked courgettes and
their juices, season to taste and eat.
To garnish my lunch I whipped up a quick batter (just a tbsp
of seasoned self raising flour and enough fizzy water to make a coating
consistency), dipped the courgette flour into it and fried till crisp. It was OK but really just a vehicle for
crunchy batter, the flower itself was of no interest to me other than academic.
