York’s zen cook FLORENCIA CLIFFORD explains how to make the perfect summer meal.

It’s July and my courgette plants are thriving; yesterday I noticed the little bulge behind the female flowers so soon we will be able to start picking them. Of all the things I planted from seed this year only two courgette plants survived the voracious snails and slugs.

Courgette flowers can be either male or female, the female flowers are the ones that produce the courgettes. The male flowers can be picked once the female flowers are pollinated and prepared in different ways for delicious and colourful appetizers.

In my scale of preference there is nothing better than a freshly picked homegrown smallish courgette and nothing worst than a marrow.

Courgettes do not better with age and size but the contrary. Years ago, I learned to make courgette fritters with Jane, my sister-in-law, who is visiting this weekend from New York and is one of the best cooks I know.

She came to stay with us one summer after holidaying together and we had a lot of vigorous mint and piles of courgettes from the allotment, among tons of other vegetables.

We feasted on fritters and salad. When the weather is warm, you don’t really need anything else and because there is only a tiny amount of flour this is perfect for a low-carb diet.


Courgette, mint and Feta fritters


Ingredients

600g courgettes, coarsely grated
1 small onion, grated.
1 garlic clove, finely chopped.
100 grams of crumbled feta cheese.
1 egg
A big handful of fresh mint leaves chopped.
100 grams of plain flour.
1 teaspoon of sumac (optional)
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper.
Olive oil for shallow frying.

 


Method

Place the grated courgettes in a colander, sprinkle with sea salt and toss with your hands so that the salt seeps through.

Set over the sink with something heavy on top for a few minutes to squeeze the excess water. Pat dry with paper towel.

In a bowl, combine the courgettes, onion, garlic, feta and egg.

Add the flour, the seasoning and sumac and mix well using a wooden spoon.

Heat the oil in a heavy skillet or non-stick frying pan, over medium to high heat and using a heaped spoon of mixture per fritter, add them to the sizzling pan and flatten them slightly as you cook them with a flat kitchen utensil.

Allow a few minutes before you turn them over, until each side is golden and heated through. You might have to turn them around a few times until the fritter is ready.

Serve the fritters with a generous summer salad.

They can also be delicious the day after, straight out of the fridge.

• Florencia Clifford is a zen cook and the author of Feeding Orchids To The Slugs: Tales Of The Zen Kitchen. For more, visit feedingorchidstotheslugs.wordpress.com