Allyson Gofton - Courgette Fritters With Wasabi Mayonnaise

Courgettes are in abundance at this time of the year. In backyard gardens they quickly go from courgette to marrow in days and keeping on top of the harvest can be tough. My children like them simply cooked in butter, which is easy but rather monotonous.  Courgettes have a high water content and will not tolerate freezing, so they need to be cooked up.

Here’s 10 easy ways to use them up:

• Grate and add to well-flavoured burger mixture
• Slice thinly and use in place of lasagne sheets
• Use a mix of grated courgettes and carrots in a carrot cake
• Grate and add to a cheesy scone dough
• Make a ratatouille and freeze down or bottle for use in winter
• Slice thinly and cook in butter and garlic and toss through pasta with loads fresh basil and pine-nuts
• Cut into thicker slices and top on mozzarella loaded pizza with chillies
• Cook with minted peas and puree into a soup
• Make into fritters and serve with wasabi
• Slice in half lengthwise an season well with pepper and olive oil. Wrap in prosciutto, layer in a dish to bake. Serve cool, dressed with a sweet honey vinaigrette.

Courgettes love mint, basil, parsley, thyme, fennel, garlic and lemon.

Courgette Fritters With Wasabi Mayonnaise

Ingredients

• 1½ cups self raising flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 eggs, beaten
• ¾ cup very cold water
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon grass, finely chopped
• 3 spring onions, finely sliced
• 4 courgettes, trimmed and grated
• 2 tblsp coriander, freshly chopped
• 1 tblsp mint, freshly chopped
• oil to pan fry

Wasabi Mayonnaise

• ½ cup good mayonnaise
• ½ tsp wasabi paste
• 1½ tblsp chopped chives

Method

1. Sift the flour and salt into a bowl and then beat in the eggs and cold water to form a thick batter.
2. Stir in lemon grass, spring onions, courgettes, coriander and mint.
3. Heat a little oil in a fry pan and drop 3-4 large spoonfuls of mixture into the hot pan. Cook the fritters over medium heat, turning to cook the other side when bubbles appear on the top.
4. Serve with Wasabi Mayonnaise and baby salad leaves.

Wasabi Mayonnaise

1. Mix all ingredients together.