As the courgette season is just getting started here in the Lake District, I have been looking up my old recipes as well as looking for some new. This is one of my favourite for young and small courgettes, which are very tasty and as such they don’t need much cooking. I have courgettes growing all around the pottager including in 2 trolleys which should be used for moving things around the garden; what it does allow me to do is turn the trollies to face the sun, or to move under the tree if it raining hard to keep them from getting too wet.
In this recipe I give the courgettes a quick fry so that they keep their crunch as well as their vibrant colour.
Ingredients for 4 people
8-10 baby courgettes sliced into rounds
2tbsp olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
400g pasta
for the pesto sauce
1 garlic clove lightly crushed
large handful of fresh basil leaves
100 g parmesan or other hard cheese roughly grated
120ml olive oil
175g pine nuts
Method
For the Pesto, now be careful, this is difficult..... put all the ingredients into a food processor and whizz together... tah daa, so simple. Cook the pasta (as per the instructions on the packet). For the Courgettes, heat the olive oil in frying pan and gently fry the courgette slice once cooked, add the lemon juice and swill round together add salt and pepper to taste Drain the pasta, add the courgette mix then some of the pesto, not all of it is needed and the rest can be kept in a jar in the fridge sprinkle with parmesan. enjoy
lemon courgette, pesto and pasta
