T
his one is a bit of a guesswork and culinary instinct. I make up the majority of my recipes from going by eye and taste so am constantly having to rush to the laptop at the end of a meal to formulate a trusty recipe with measurements! Due to the varying moisture of your courgette and the foolish way I left writing this one up to a week later its rough but will always be I think. When I make this again, I’ll return to this post and correct any misgivings…So try my chefs, go by eye, taste and gut to get the texture.
This makes a lovely side dish to some grilled chicken or steak. I felt it was  equivalent to but more sustainable than a creamed spinach with its carb element. It’s really moreish and filling and not creamy in the traditional gratin sense. It would also make a great vegetable main with salad dressed with a dijon lemon dressing.
Serves 4 as a side
- 140g brown rice
- 3 courgettes, finely grated
- 2 shallots/1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
- 50g of grated parmesan
- 25g butter
- 1-2 Tbsp plain flour
- Splash milk
- Some breadcrumbs
- 1 lemon, zest
- Grate your courgettes into a big bowl and sprinkle over about 2 tsp or two good pinches of flaky salt and set aside. This will draw out the majority of the courgette moisture.
- Boil your rice for about 20-25 minutes until just cooked with a slight bite. Check as you go as you don’t want to overcook it; it needs texture. Drain and set aside.
- Heat a large frying pan over a medium heat and add a splash of olive oil. Heat and then gently sweat your shallot/onion for about 8 minutes or until soft and translucent. Add the garlic and continue to cook for a few minutes.
- Put the courgette into a sieve and push through to drain the, now extracted, liquid. Save this liquid in a separate bowl. Don’t worry about getting it really dry, you just want to remove the excess.
- Add the grated courgette to the frying pan and the onions and mix well to combine. Fry for a few minutes.
- Next, season well with salt and freshly ground pepper and then add the butter and mix until melted.
- Add a heaped tablespoon of plain flour and mix well.
- Next, (ironically) you want to add some of that courgette ‘juice’ back in, but at your control. Add in stirring well to stop the flour getting lumpy until it starts to thicken a bit – here is where you need to use your instincts!
- Once added, top up with milk if you want a looser texture, I added a splash but my courgette ‘juice’ was about 100ml.
- Grate in all but a handful of the parmesan and the zest from half the lemon and mix until the cheese is melted.
- Tip into a baking dish.
- Scatter with the breadcrumbs and the reserved parmesan and season.
- Bake at 180 for about 20 minutes or until golden and hot through!