Courgette, Watercress and Melon Bruschetta

Fresh flavours piled on top of garlic bruschetta

Bruschetta is traditionally topped with fresh tomatoes mixed with garlic, basil and sometimes mozarella cheese. I wanted to do something a bit different so I thought of some fresh flavours which I felt would work on top of a nice thick slice of garlic bread. Watercress is in season now and is one of my favourite salad leaves. It’s peppery, really delicate and goes perfectly with milder flavours such as courgette as well as being perfect teamed with fruits such as orange segments, grapefruit and melon!

The idea for this kind of obscurely came from watching Masterchef last week. The contestants were given an assortment of ingredients including ciabatta, courgettes, herbs, beef mince, peppers etc and nearly all of them made a beef burger or meat balls with garlic toast. I thought about what veggie options you could do and decided courgette and pepper bruschetta would be nice (although maybe not enough to win Masterchef!). Then after a bit of recipe planning I scrapped the pepper for a sweet melon instead and ta daaa.

I love courgette sliced thinly like this as it still has a bit of crunch to it but it is thin enough to absorb the flavour of the marinade so that the salad isn’t bland at all. This is a perfect way to enjoy it raw! Together I think this bruschetta topping has a really nice balance of freshness, sweetness and pepper.

A perfect light lunch or snack

The weather has been trying to turn nice over the weekend here and it reminded me that summer is on its way and there will be may be a time when the shorts and strap tops come out of the cupboard. I’m always quite careful with what I eat however in summer I do try and make an extra effort to stay healthy since you can’t hide behind woolly jumpers and big scarfs. If you are also prepping for summer then this salad can be topped on light crispbreads or raw crackers instead of a chunky ciabatta roll.

This was a perfect weekend lunch for me because I had the bread to fill me up but the salad topping to keep it light. I ate this sat with the patio doors to the garden wide open, listening to the birds and watching my next door neighbours cats chase leaves around the bottom of the garden. It made me feel so happy, especially because it was nice and warm. Our neighbours cats are so funny I love watching them play. They are happy until they spot one of us watching them and then as soon as that eye contact is made they stop sharply and just stare back at you! Even if I walk away for a few minutes and come back they instantly notice you again and stop and stare again! Sometimes I will be washing up at the kitchen window and I won’t have noticed them until I look up and see the cat on the fence staring with intense concentration and it catches me off guard completely, then I feel uncomfortable and have to hide until he moves haha.

I made a big batch of the courgette and melon topping and kept it in a bowl in the fridge then for work I have packed a selection of salads left over to eat without the carbs. I love packing left overs for lunch, especially nice salads like this one and the kale and pomegranate salad as it feels like an extension of the weekend. If you are planning on having it for lunch over a few days then I would make a fresh batch every 2-3 days as the courgette and watercress will wilt significantly when left in the lemon juice.

Serves 2 – Makes enough for 4 Ciabatta halves

Vegan, Dairy Free, Gluten Free Option, Low Fat

1 Courgette
1/2 Cantaloupe Melon
Large Handful Watercress
Small Bunch Mint
1/2 Lemon
1 tspn Organic Olive Oil
Black Pepper

1 Garlic Clove
1 Ciabatta Roll or gluten free bread roll
1 tspn Organic Olive Oil

Use a peeler to thinly slice the courgette and melon (deseed the melon first) into long thin strips. To get them really thin I cut the courgette in half lengthways and the melon into thin wedges before slicing to get the desired width. Leave the peel on the melon to make it firmer to hold but make sure you discard the peel once you have sliced all the flesh.

Place the strips of melon and courgette into a large bowl and add the watercress and mint. If your mint leaves are large then roughly slice them.
Squeeze the lemon juice into the bowl with the olive oil and black pepper and mix everything well. Put to one side.

Cut your ciabatta roll in half and grill the non cut side. In a small bowl crush the garlic and mix with olive oil then brush onto the non grilled/ cut side. Place back under the grill with the garlic side up and grill until golden brown and the garlic is cooked.

Pile the salad on top of the warm ciabatta and tuck in quickly!

Frosted Courgette and Lemon Cake (BBC Goodfood): Friday Challenge

I’ve once again dived into the foodie world of BBC Good Food to find some inspiring recipes for my Friday Challenge. I originally was going to make a Twix and Banana cake from a cookbook I have at home but my dad gave me a big bag of vegetables from his garden including some big courgettes so I decided to incorporate those into this weeks cake challenge.

Look at the size of it! I only needed half for my cake

I’ve always loved the idea of using vegetables in baking, I’ve seen beetroot and chocolate cakes, parsnip breads, potato scones and now courgette cake. The recipe can be found following ‘this link’. The recipe had good reviews with some good tips on how to prepare the courgettes however when I made it I don’t think it worked quite to plan.

The recipe calls for you to put the butter, sugar, grated and drained courgettes and other ingredients into a bowl and beat until a creamy batter, but mine became really wet and the butter separated from everything else. I decided to drain some of the liquid out of the bowl and carried on beating but it was still far too wet so in the end I just added the flours anyway and carried on.

A slice of the cake – you can see the courgette but it’s not a strong taste!

This is probably why my cakes are quite flat but they actually tasted amazing and the texture of the cake was crumbly yet moist. The lemon flavour is quite intense because of the glaze and the lemon in the icing but it wasn’t too sweet against the actual cake mixture. I think I will definitely make this again however next time I will make sure I have drained my courgettes completely to avoid another soggy batter mix. I also have a feeling that home grown courgettes would be more watery than shop bought but that’s just a theory.

What I have learnt about cakes:
When adding something like a vegetable or fruit to a cake mixture the level of moisture can effect the texture of the crumb, too wet and you end up with a very dense moist cake. Drain the grated courgette as much as you can! I also learnt that adding a glaze to the cake as it cools can really lift the flavour balance and add more moisture (not that this cake needed that!)

Ok so next week would normally be my own recipe but I’ve been enjoying making cakes and I still have loads to learn so I’m going to continue it for another month! The not only can I really practise the cake I want to make, I can also take my time with it and make it perfect!

Courgette pasta

This is what I call my lazy lunch! It takes 10 minutes to make, its healthy and its tasty.

Serves 2

1 courgette (or half a very large one from your veggie patch)
1 garlic clove
1 onion
handful mushrooms
2-3 large ripe tomatoes
black pepper
sprinkle of dried thyme
spray oil
sprinkle of chilli flakes
squeeze of lemon
brown pasta

Chop the courgette and garlic, finely chop the onion, tomato and slice the mushrooms.
Add to a frying pan with the spray oil, the tomatoes will release their liquid and make it more of a sauce. add the black pepper, chilli flakes and thyme and cook untill softened.
Add a squeeze of lemon juice and stir into cooked brown pasta.

Serve with a salad or a slice of home made garlic bread!

Ps: I have used yellow courgette’s in this dish as they were given to me from my dads garden but you can use any type of courgette you like!