Roasted Parmesan courgettes

A few weeks ago, I ordered fruit and vegetable boxes from a local company that distribute for small scale specialist growers. And boy oh boy, was I happy! Hussey’s Farm has a seriously good range of produce (including delicious cheeses and milk) and deliver straight to your door. I ordered one of the fruit boxes and one vegetable box, plus some extra strawberries (because we need strawberries at all times according to my 4yr old). The boxes were amazing. So much in them. It really made me push myself to eat more fruit and vegetables. I have gotten two weeks of food out of it and some back-ups in the freezer. All I have left is one sweet potato, which I will make something with this weekend. Everything else, gone and delicious.

One thing in the box were some courgettes, and as most of you know, I used not to like those but in recent years have come to appreciate them. However, I am always in search of the perfect courgette recipe that leaves me wanting more. And I think I finally came up with one. Marinated and roasted Parmesan courgettes. Super tasty and the perfect side to summer and winter dishes alike.

These little circles of courgette are marinated in lemon, oil and garlic and then roasted with grated Parmesan on top. While taking the photographs, I ate half of them, and as soon as I got a picture, I ate the other half standing over the sink, while the oil dribbled down my chin. A whole courgette gone in under 3 minutes. I would never have thought those words would come out of my mouth. Now I enjoyed these, but when I made them again, my son of course refused them. And that is fine, more for me!

ROASTED PARMESAN COURGETTES

With only a few ingredients you can turn the ordinary into something special.

• 1 large courgette
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• a decent sized clove of garlic
• zest of half a lemon grated
• 20 g Parmesan grated
• fresh pepper

THE HOW

Pre-heat the oven to 210° C (fan oven), you want it hot as you are going to give the courgettes a very quick roast at a high temp to just sear them without over cooking.

Place a baking tray in the oven to heat while it pre-heats.

Put the oil, garlic and lemon zest in a medium bowl and mix, allow the oil to infuse for about 10 minutes.

Slice the courgette into thick rounds, around 6 or 7 mm each.

Add the courgettes into the bowl with the oil and toss. Allow to stand for another 10 minutes to really allow the flavours to be absorbed.

Add a sprinkle of fresh black pepper and toss.

Take the baking tray out of the oven and place the courgettes on it, they will start to sizzle which is good.

Sprinkle the top of each courgette slice with grated Parmesan. Place into the oven for 6 minutes, no more!

If you have a separate grill, turn it on to high. As soon as the courgette has had 6 minutes in the oven you want to grill the tops so the cheese becomes brown. About 3 minutes on high heat.

And that’s it, you’re done. Plate them up and try not to eat them all at once.