swimming courgettes

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This morning I was shopping. Food shopping.

When Corona times started my better half & I decided to reduce food shopping to once a week & one-stop-shopping whenever possible. Rigorously. Until now nothing changed so far except that we since some weeks have returned to a spontaneous shopping on Saturdays for the weekend … sometimes. (Also our trusted & precious café cum bakery reopened … for fresh bread & brioche & …)

 

For the record:
This aren’t really news because when working your 40+ office hours needless to say you have to plan your food shopping resulting mostly in a big shopping spree once a week. Daily shopping is a nice concept, but unfortunately not sooooo(!) convenient for working people.
(… & I always was a fan of one-stop-shopping!)

 

So this morning I checked the fridge & the pantry, made some mental notes & started for my trusted food store. In my mind I pondered about what to do for lunch … Corona times promoted home office models – so lunch is not longer a casino affair.

 

 

For these little lunches at home we prefer something fast to prepare, light & delicious.  We often decide on vegetables pimped w/ cheese or whatever meat is in our fridge. (Or pasta!!!)

In my trusted food store this morning I found fine courgettes. Several times before I made baked courgette … so now just start another try!

It’s simply cutting a courgettes into halves, hollow them, fill something savory into the courgettes & let it bake in the oven. The courgettes look somewhat like little boats or ships … moored … That’s why I talk about swimming courgettes.
(I never get it right … the difference I mean between a boat & a ship.)

… & I wanted to write a post about it: cooking in the morning for lunch & writing about is in the afternoon.

So now it’s afternoon, I’m sitting at my desk, eating sweet cherries & working on this post.

I bought 3 courgettes. Each is about 200-250 g. (My better half later asked for another one …)

 

For the record:
Courgettes of this size take about 25-30 min in oven. If you happen to get larger ones adjust the length of the oven session.

 

 

In my fridge there is always some cheese; today I took a piece of Parmesan cheese to be grated later. I also have some bacon stocked in my fridge. I prefer the thin slices which may be chopped into a fine bacon mess. … & I had some spring onions.

 

For the record:
I had 3 courgettes. For each courgette you’ll need 1 slice of bacon (about 10 g), 1 spring onion & about 5-10 g grated cheese. So if like to do 4 or 5 courgettes just adjust the amounts in the recipe.

 

 

Cleaning & trimming the courgettes is state of the art & easy: just cut off the head.

Chopping the spring onions & the bacon … adding some olive oil & dried thyme … frying softly.

 

 

In the meantime the courgettes are halved & hollowed out w/ a little help of a knife & a spoon.

The pulp is chopped & marches into the frying pan to join the spring onions & the bacon.

 

 

Let it fry for some minutes & add a splash of cream. It’ll get to dry otherwise. Add salt & pepper to taste.

 

 

Line a baking tray w/ baking parchment & arrange the courgettes.

Fill the courgettes w/ the mess of the frying pan.

 

 

Afterwards grate the Parmesan all over the courgettes.

 

 

I didn’t preheat the oven; it’s not necessary. For 30 min the courgettes lounged in the oven at 175° C w/ fan. Finally they are very soft & creamy & the filling is crisp. (If you like your courgette a little less soft just end the oven session after 25 min.)

Voilà!

 

 

Each of us had 3 courgette halves together w/ some fresh baguette. Fine.

 

Other options?

• You may use Pecorino cheese instead of Parmesan cheese. You may also use Mozzarella (thinly sliced) on top …
• You may add minced sundried tomatoes to the spring onions & the bacon.
• You may use minced meat instead of bacon.

I think you get it. There is more than one approach how to fill the courgettes. Just one thing: don’t overdo!

 

 

Enjoy!

 

 

(information on equipment)