Courgettes

I need vegetables. At the weekend, I went to two events, both prominent in the London social summer calendar but in very different ways. And I overdid it at both of them. On Saturday at the Lovebox weekender, I drunk pear cider until I was perspiring the stuff. And on Sunday at Lord’s (the home of cricket), Stewart and I tucked into a very porcine picnic – in fact there was a quartet of pork – a pie, Scotch egg, sausages and ham sandwiches. All very delicious but today, I need vegetables.

In this week’s veg box came three shiny courgettes, the pin-up in my vegetable calendar for late July. Courgettes sing seasonal and it’s an upbeat smokey Italian jazz club number straight out of The Talented Mr Ripley. I’ve been slightly obsessing about these legumes since a trip to the Amalfi coast (where that film was filmed) at Easter where we had the most delicious stuffed courgette flowers. Light as feather but oozing with creamy goat’s cheese, they were heaven. A quick web search reveals that to buy them is insanely expensive, so note to self, plant courgettes next year then eat the flowers (are they easy to grow?).


With vegetables and Italy on my mind, I’ve chosen a minestrone recipe from Ursula Ferrigno's book Trattoria. The ingredients of courgettes, fresh basil (harvested from the window-sill, did I mention I love my herbs?), tinned tomatoes, stock, pasta and Parmesan are reassuringly store cupboard for a weekday night. The recipe called for spaghetti but I went one better. A bag of zita pasta (meaning fiancee as it was traditionally served at weddings) given to us by the son of chef Don Alfonso, at their family-run Michelin-starred restaurant of the same name outside Sorrento. Given the cost of dinner, I don’t want to think how much the pasta actually cost but it’s fair to say it’s princely. The result is a fresh soup that’s a meal in a bowl, a vegetable meal and no pear or pork in sight.


The don’s minestrone di zucchini
Serves 4

500g courgettes, cut into 1cm cubes

1 medium onion, chopped

2 tbsp olive oil

1.5L vegetable stock

2 x 400g cans cherry or chopped tomatoes
A handful fresh basil leaves, torn

200g pasta, broken into pieces

Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Put the courgettes, onion and olive oil in a saucepan, cover with stock and slowly bring to the boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes.

Add the tinned tomatoes and basil, gently combine ingredients, then slowly bring to the boil. I added a Parmesan rind for extra flavour.

Add the pasta pieces, and cook on a medium to high heat until the pasta is cooked. Season to taste.

Sprinkle with grated Parmesan and serve.