Recipe: courgette with 6 cloves of garlic from Ottolenghi’s new Flavour
Yotam Ottolenghi, the king of vegetables, has a new cookbook: Flavour. Since he knows better than anyone how to put vegetables in the spotlight, he shares magical vegetable recipes in his new cookbook together with Ixta Belfrage. The book is divided into three sections, showing you how to use as much of the vegetable as possible and put delicious dishes, such as this courgette with harissa and lemon, on the table.
“Courgettes aren’t exactly controversial, but they often receive a lukewarm response from many people, including, unfortunately, two of our colleagues in the test kitchen. The reason for this is probably the high water content of courgettes, which makes them—well—watery. There are plenty of ways to counteract this—baking and grilling are two—but here we actually use it to our advantage: we let the courgettes gently cook in their own moisture, making them wonderfully soft and giving them time to absorb the flavour of the fried garlic. (And we’re happy to tell you that we eventually managed to win over our two courgette-doubting colleagues.)
The courgettes are delicious while still hot, but they’re even better about 15 minutes later, or even at room temperature, once the flavours have had a chance to get to know each other. If you want to work ahead, make the courgettes a day in advance; wait to add the basil until just before serving.”
How to make the courgettes with harissa and lemon
- Place a large non-stick sauté pan over medium-high to high heat, together with the oil and garlic. Fry, stirring regularly, for 4 minutes until the slices are cooked, golden brown and fragrant. The garlic should not become completely brown or crisp, so lower the heat slightly if necessary. Spoon 3 tablespoons of oil from the pan, together with half of the garlic, into a bowl with the harissa, chilli, preserved lemon and lemon juice. Stir everything together and set aside.
- Return the pan to high heat and add the courgette slices and 1 teaspoon of salt. Fry everything for 18 minutes, tossing the courgettes regularly until the slices are very tender but still hold their shape (the courgette should not brown, so lower the heat in time). Stir in half of the basil and transfer everything to a serving dish. Spoon the harissa mixture over the courgettes. Leave them to stand for 15 minutes, sprinkle with a pinch of salt and garnish with the remaining basil.
Title: Flavour
Author: Yotam Ottolenghi
Price: €32
Publisher: Fontaine Uitgevers
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