Getting close. The bedroom is ready for my house sitting friend, the fridge is losing its bits and bobs, the living room is full of piles of stuff, I'm getting excited . . . And it is sunny!
The recipe I tried yesterday evening was absolutely delicious. Courgette bake.
This is what I did, more or less.
Zizz up some bread to make bread crumbs and mix them with grated parmesan (you could use chedder I guess, but grate it finely). Add a little pepper or a spice like smoked paprika, or maybe a few herbs. Sprinkle over some oil and mix well.
Over some ripe tomatoes, pour boiling water, then rub off the skin and squeeze out most of the seeds. Discard the seeds and skin and roughly chop the flesh. Chop or slice some red pepper and add to the tomatoes.
Finely chop some garlic.
Oil the bottom of an oven proof dish. Throw in some sliced courgettes and season. Spoon over some creme fraiche and sprinkle over some chopped garlic. I then stirred it all together - it looks rough but that doesn't matter.
Spread over the chopped tomatoes and peppers and season again. Add herbs if wanted. The original recipe suggested basil, but I'm not that fond of basil so I didn't. I added a bit more chopped garlic. Smooth the surface.
Finally, add the cheese and breadcrumb mixture and gently smooth the top, not pressing down too much. The oil should have distributed through the whole mix well by now. if not, stir again before adding.
Pop it in the oven at around 160 to 180 C. The temperature doesn't matter too much, nor does the cooking time, but I gave it well over half an hour because the top will go all crunchy and scrummy. The creme fraiche did separate but it didn't matter, it was still really delicious.
One I will do again for sure! It would be nice as a way of using up leftover vegetables from the day before, in which case it wouldn't be courgette bake, of course!
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