Ingredient: Courgette (Zucchini)
Category: Vegetables
Season: June to October
Courgette, in New Zealand and British English or Zucchini (pronounced /zu ki ni, in North American and Australian, is a small summer baby marrows (squash). Its scientific name is Cucurbita pepo.
The Courgette (zucchini) can be yellow, green or light green, and generally has a similar shape to a ridged cucumber, though a few cultivars are available that produce round or bottle-shaped fruit.
On a culinary level, Courgette (zucchini) is treated as a vegetable, which means it is usually cooked and presented as a savory dish or accompaniment.
Botanically, however, the zucchini is an immature fruit, being the swollen ovary of the female zucchini flower.
Courgette's flower
The courgette flower can be male or female. The female flower is a golden blossom on the end of each baby zucchini. The male flower grows directly on the stem of the zucchini plant in the leaf axils (where leaf petiole meets stem), on a long stalk, and is slightly smaller than the female. Both flowers are edible, and are often used to dress a meal or garnish the cooked fruit.
Firm and fresh blossoms that are only slightly open are cooked to be eaten, with pistils removed from female flowers, and stamens removed from male flowers.
The stem on the flowers can be retained as a way of giving the cook something to hold onto during cooking, rather than injuring the delicate petals, or they can be removed prior to cooking, or prior to serving.
There are a variety of recipes in which the flowers may be deep fried as fritters or tempura (after dipping in a light tempura batter), stuffed, sautéed, baked, or used in soups.
In Mexico, zucchini is often used for a light cream soup, sopa de flor de calabaza, and it is quite popular in a variation of the traditional quesadillas, becoming quesadillas de flor de calabaza. Zucchini is also used in a variety of other dishes (rajas), and as a side dish ornament
Cooking
When used for food, Courgette (zucchini) are usually picked when the seeds are soft and immature, seldom over 8in/20cm in length.
Mature zucchini can be as much as three feet long, but are often fibrous and not appetizing to eat.
Courgette with the flowers attached are a sign of a truly fresh and immature fruit, and are especially sought by many people.
Unlike cucumber, courgette are usually served cooked.
It can be prepared using a variety of cooking techniques, including steamed, boiled, grilled, stuffed and baked, barbecued, fried, or incorporated in other recipes such as souffles.
It also can be baked into a bread.
It's flowers can be eaten stuffed and is a delicacy when deep fried as tempura.
The courgette has a delicate rather than strong flavour requiring little more than quick cooking with butter or olive oil, with or without fresh herbs. The skin is left in place.
Quick cooking of barely wet courgette in oil or butter allows the vegetable to partially boil and steam, with the juices concentrated in the final moments of frying when the water has gone, prior to serving.
Courgette can also be eaten raw, sliced or shredded in a cold salad, as well as hot and barely cooked in hot salads, as in Thai or Vietnamese recipes.
Courgette fruit should be stored not longer than three days. They are prone to chilling damage which is expressed as sunken pits in the surface of the fruit especially when brought up to room temperature after cool storage.
Two Tondo di Piacenza ZucchiniIn 2005, a poll of 2,000 people revealed the courgette to be the Britain's 10th favourite culinary vegetable.
In Mexico, the flower (known as Flor de Calabaza) is preferred over the vegetable[citation needed], and is often cooked in soups or used as a filling for quesadillas. In El Salvador, calabaza is a common ingredient in pupusas, usually with cheese as calabaza y queso.
In Italy, courgette are served in a variety of ways, especially breaded and pan-fried. Some restaurants in Rome specialize in deep-frying the flowers, known as fiori di zucca.
In France courgette is a key ingredient in Ratatouille, a stew of summer vegetables in olive oil, cooked for an extended time over low heat. The dish, originating around an area known as present day Nice is served as a side dish or on its own at lunch with bread.
In Libya, after being emptied, courgette is stuffed with minced meat and rice plus herbs and spices and steamed. It is also used to make various kinds of stew.
Nutrition
The courgette vegetable is low in calories (approximately 15 food calories per 100 g fresh zucchini) and contains useful amounts of folate (24 mcg/100 g), potassium (280 mg/100 g) and vitamin A (384 IU [115 mcg]/100 g. 1/2 cup of zucchini also contains 19% of the recommended amount of manganese.
Try them chunkily cut and roasted in the oven, as in Oven-Roasted Ratatouille, or marinated in a vinaigrette with herbs
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