This would serve 4 as a main – perhaps with garlic bread if you need more carbs.

Start by making the courgette balls as per this recipe. When you have made these keep them warm in the oven while you start on the sauce.

2-3 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic – finely chopped
8-10 mushrooms – finely sliced
250g spinach – chopped
250g mascarpone cheese
salt and pepper to taste
a pinch of grated nutmeg

Take a large frying pan and heat the olive oil. Fry the garlic and mushrooms until the mushrooms start to soften. Now add the chopped spinach and fry gently until wilted and most of the liquid has evaporated. Reduce the heat then add the mascarpone. While this is melting, put a large pan of water on a high heat for the gnocchi. Cook the gnocchi as per the instructions (2 minutes in boiling water), drain and add to the mushrooms, spinach and mascarpone. Season with salt, black pepper and a little freshly grated nutmeg. Stir well then add the courgette balls.

Serves 3 – 4 people

2 tablespoons olive oil
Small knob of butter
1 onion – chopped
1 clove garlic – finely chopped
4-5 courgettes – cut into rough chunks
2 teaspoons pesto
100g creamy blue cheese – gorgonzola or dolcelatte work well
Vegetable stock
Salt and pepper

Heat the butter and oil in a large saucepan. When the butter has melted add the onion and fry gently until soft and translucent. Now add the garlic and continue to fry for a further 2 minutes. Add the courgettes, stir, cover and cook for 5-6 minutes until the courgettes are soft. Now add the pesto and just enough stock to come to the top of the vegetables. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 15 minutes until everthing is very tender. Remove from the heat and add the cheese. Blend the osup until smooth. I use a stick blender but you could transfer everything to a food processor, blend and put back in the pan – it all depends on how much you like washing up.

Heat gently and season to taste.

To be honest I’ve had a bit of a courgette disaster. Last year I had so many I couldn’t get through them. This year all the plants have died. Luckily my allotment neighbour came to the rescue so I traded two courgettes for a lettuce and so decided to give this a try.

Serves 2
2 courgettes – sliced
2-3 tablespoons good oil – I used a mixture of hemp oil and mild olive oil but you could use extra virgin olive oil
1 wedge of brie – sorry I threw the pack away so not sure what weight it was – diced
1 medium very ripe tomato – diced
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
juice of half a lemon

Heat the oil in a heavy based frying pan. When nice and hot fry the courgette slices until browned on each side – even slightly charred.

Place in a dish with the oil. Season with salt and pepper. Now add the cubed brie and tomatoes. Add the lemon juice and mix gently. The brie should start to melt from the heat in the courgettes.

Serve with green salad and hunks of french bread.

Here is a picture guide

Fry

Drain

Place in a dish

Roast

Whiz

Smother

Then whack it in the oven while you cook the spaghetti

I added a few slow roasted tomatoes that I made last year and sealed in jars.

To make the tomatoes:-
Cherry tomatoes
Olive Oil
1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
a little salt
a little sugar

Heat the oven to 120C. Spread the tomatoes out on a baking tray. Cover with 3-4 tablespoons olive oil, then add the rest of the ingredients. Place in the oven for 2 hours.

When done, boil the kettle and sterilise/heat a couple of empty glass jars and their lids. Spoon the hot tomatoes with the oil and their juice into the hot jars then screw the lids on tightly. When cool they should be vacuum sealed and will keep in the fridge – mine kept for about 12 months.

To make the salad
courgettes – two smallish ones – sliced
assorted lettuce and other salad leaves
a ball of mozzarella
lemon juice
whole chilis

Now take a frying pan and heat a little olive oil on a high heat. Slice some courgettes – I used two to feed two people – and fry them in the oil until well browned or slightly charred. Remove from the pan, sprinkle with about a tablespoon of lemon juice and leave to cool slightly.

Now prepare the plates by piling some salad leaves, then top with the courgette slices, some slices of mozarella – buffalo is best but the normal stuff works well too – a few slow roasted tomatoes and top off with a couple of chilis from a jar (you can buy these at al Middle Eastern supermarkets and some of the big evil ones too).

The salad doesn’t need any extra dressing as the oil from the tomatoes and oil and lemon juice in the courgettes gives enough flavour.