Mrs Simkins


Individual Courgette Cakes with Lemon and Vanilla Those of you with a plentiful supply of courgettes in the garden at the moment may find this recipe welcome. After the first couple of weeks of excitedly harvesting courgettes as soon as they are of edible size, they suddenly seem to gain momentum and run away with themselves. A food processor makes everything quick and easy. Prepare the courgettes by peeling them and cutting into short lengths. If seeds have begun to form, cut the courgettes length-ways and use a teaspoon to scrape out the seedy bits. 150g (5oz) peeled courgette, cut into short lengths 110g (4oz) softened butter 110g (4oz) soft brown sugar Finely grated zest of 1½ lemons 175g (6oz) plain flour 1 teaspoon bicarbonate soda 2 teaspoons cream of tartar 2 eggs ¾ teaspoon good quality vanilla extract 50g (2oz) ground almonds Preheat oven to 160C (fan oven) or equivalent Grease a 12 cup muffin tin, or 12 mini-loaf tins (or a mixture of both) Using the normal blade attachment of your processor, whiz the prepared courgette into strands. Add the butter and sugar and lemon zest and whiz until combined. Add the cream of tartar and bicarbonate of soda to the flour and sieve half of it over the mixture. Add the eggs and vanilla and sieve in the rest of the flour and raising agents. Whiz briefly and add the ground almonds. Whiz until smooth and well mixed. Divide the mixture between the prepared muffin cups or mini-loaf tins and bake for approximately 20 minutes until risen and golden and a skewer inserted comes out clean. Leave in the tin for a while, as they are very fragile at this stage. Once they have started to contract away from the sides of the tin, remove and cool on a wire rack. Cover with a clean tea towel to keep them moist and prevent them drying out as they cool. Muffins Simply line the muffin tins with paper muffin cases and proceed as above. Lemon and Poppy-Seed Topping or Plain Lemon Glaze You can use the lemon glaze without the poppy-seeds, if you prefer. Heat the sieved juice of half a large lemon with 2 tablespoons of unrefined caster sugar and one tablespoon of water until the sugar has melted. Allow to bubble gently for a couple of minutes and leave to cool. Once the cakes are cold, brush with the lemon glaze and sprinkle with a couple of teaspoons of poppy seeds (when shopping, look for them in the spice section).	Garden Salad If you have a productive garden, you can amble around with your salad bowl and pick what takes your fancy, but most of these ingredients can be grown in containers. Lettuce or other salad leaves Very thin slivers of courgette: use a vegetable peeler to shave long vertical wafer thin slices Cucumber, peeled and very thinly sliced Unsprayed and bug-free edible flowers such as: nasturtium, borage, viola, marigold petals, fennel flowers (snip the little individual yellow flowers from the large flat heads) Tomatoes, fresh from the garden, if available Handful of podded peas, fresh from the garden, if available Thinly sliced radishes, fresh from the garden, if available Arrange everything in one large bowl or in individual ones. Homemade Salad Dressing You can use this to dress all kinds of salad. Make it in a screw top jar with a plastic lid, if possible (metal will react with the vinegar). 3 tablespoons of oil (mild olive, rapeseed or sunflower) 1 tablespoon of cider vinegar 1 heaped teaspoon of Dijon mustard 1 teaspoon runny honey Spoon the mustard and honey into the screw top jar, add the oil and vinegar screw the top on firmly and shake vigorously. Drizzle over your salad at the table.