0 Ragbag pasta with roasted courgette, basil and mint

Well its that time of year again when our courgette plants are yielding a courgette a day and my quest is to find new and novel ways to serve this vegetable. This recipe came about as a way to use up the part bags of pasta that you often find lurking in the cupboard waiting for a little love, it works fine with gluten free pasta which I find remains al dente for longer than normal pasta.

I also spotted that this months cooking with herbs had the theme of basil, at its peak flavour wise at this time of year, I combined it with mint for a pesto flavour twist and lots of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. A delicious, frugal and tasty dish, rich in courgettes and herbs. This dish is healthy and fresh tasting and makes use of some great seasonal ingredients that just sing summer.

What you need

• Courgettes (Zucchini) - approx 3 medium sized cut into 2cm slice, cut in half
• Olive oil - good drizzle
• Fresh basil- 3 sprigs
• Fresh garden mint - 3 sprigs, leaves picked off
• Parmesan cheese - handful
• Cooked pasta (cooked to the instruction on the packet)
• Black pepper - freshly ground

What you do

• Toss the chopped courgettes with olive oil and place on an oven tray

• Roast in the oven at 180c for about 40 minutes or so until the courgettes are softened and tinged golden brown
• Whilst the courgettes are roasting, cook the pasta so that it ready when the courgettes are ready.

• Drain the pasta and toss with the roasted courgettes and oil , add the cheese and the herbs torn into small pieces

• Toss and then serve with freshly ground black pepper

I'm including this post in this months cooking with herbs, whose theme this month is basil. Created by Lavender and Lovage and hosted also this month by Karen too.

             
                                                         

I am also linking to Pasta Please created by Tinned Tomatoes and Hungry Healthy Happy, hosted this month by Hungry Healthy Happy, the theme is a pasta dish healthy or lightened.

                                          

And also to Eat Your Greens over on Allotment2Kitchen.

                                           

Detail: Ragbag pasta with roasted courgette, basil and mint

0 Lekue - meringue roulade with blackcurrant and mint couli

Over the Easter weekend we had friends visiting and for a while now I had been wanting to use my Lekue Swiss roll mold , so I thought I would give a meringue roulade a go. I also had ulterior motives to use a excess of homelaid eggs and meringue recipes uses loads of eggs don't they (well whites anyway).

I decided to plump for making a plain cream roulade which could  then be served with anything from fresh fruit, fruit couli (using frozen homegrown fruit) or chocolate or caramel sauce. Choices choices......

I am mighty pleased with the resultant soft billowy marshmallowy meringue and the performance of the Lekue mold, the only downside being that the mold is rather flexible so it tooks some nifty handling of the oven shelf to turn the meringue out of the mold onto the cooling rack.

To ensure a smooth glossy well airated meringue ensure your mixing bowl is clean and free from grease, as a precaution I always wipe round with some lemon juice on some kitchen paper.

What you need

• 6 egg whites
• 275g caster sugar
• 50g flaked almonds

To fill the roulade I used whipped double cream sweetened with a good slug of vanilla paste, you could use whipping cream, marscapone or yogurt or even a sweetened cream cheese mixture. For a roulade this size I used a 300ml pot.

What you do

• Preheat your oven to 180c fan
• Place the egg whites in the bowl of your mixer (I used my trusty Kitchenaid) and mix until very stiff and well airated
• Add the caster sugar a little at a time, whislt continuing to mix until all added and the meringue is very stiff and glossy
• Scoop into your lekue mold (or if you haven't got one then a lined swiss roll tin) and smooth level
• Sprinkle with the flaked almonds
• Place in the pre heated oven and bake for 10 minutes until golden
• Turn the oven down to 140c and bake for a further 15 minutes or so until crispy to touch
• Take the meringue out of the over an tip out onto a baking paper covered wire rack to cool for 10 minutes or so
• Then fill with your chosen filling and roll using the baking paper to assist your roll.
• Remove the ends (chefs treats) and serve decorated with fruit or fruit couli or sauce.
• The roulade freezes well when filled with cream and rolled.

For the couli I used some of the last frozen homegrown blackcurrant I had in the freezer , sweetened with caster sugar (1/2 the weight of the blackcurrants) scented with a generous spring of fresh peppermint from the garden.

I am entering this post in Cooking with herbs challenge as I used this months featured herb - mint is in my recipe, the challenge was created by Karen over at Lavender and Lovage and she is hosting this month too.

                                                              

I was kindly provided the roulade mold by Lekue for testing and review purposes. 

Detail: Lekue - meringue roulade with blackcurrant and mint couli