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Thursday 29 August 2019

Courgette (Zucchini) Gratin ... a reduced carb dish

Courgette / zucchini  is such a versatile vegetable. Courgettes can make a decent meal of any store cupboard ingredient. They can be dressed up in a creamy lemon sauce and served with pasta (or low carb pasta swap), grated and added to a quiche, or served as crisp fritters. In fact, recipes for courgettes come in as many shapes and sizes as the squash itself; varieties of this summer vegetable can range from small and flying-saucer shaped, to dark-green and tennis ball-sized, to long and yellow. Give courgettes a go, but remember, the smaller they are, the more flavour and if you don't pick them early enough they grow into marrows.



This simple gratin makes a great side dish as it’s creamy and flavoursome without being too rich - why not serve with a salad for a light supper! 

Ingredients
Serves Four
2 tbsp. olive oil
800g/1lb 12oz courgettes, sliced into 5mm/¼in rounds
few sprigs thyme
few basil leaves
100ml/3½fl oz. crème fraîche
50ml/2fl oz. milk
1 tsp plain flour
75g/2½oz gruyère or similar cheese, grated

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 200C/Fan 180C/Gas 6
2. Put the olive oil in a large, lidded frying pan. Add the courgettes and herbs and season with salt and pepper.
3. Cover and cook gently for 10 minutes, stirring every so often, until the courgettes have softened slightly but are still al dente. The oil should have taken on a deep, rich green colour from the courgettes.
4. Transfer to an oven dish. Whisk the crème fraîche, milk and flour together in a bowl and season with salt. Pour this mixture over the courgettes – it will not be enough to completely cover the courgettes, but this is fine – it will bubble up when cooking.

5. Sprinkle over the cheese. Bake in the oven for around 25 minutes, or until brown and bubbling. 
Recipe from here

If you’re already living the LCHF lifestyle, you will know that courgettes (zucchini) are low in carbs, just 2g. carb per 100g, and they are probably high up on your must buy shopping (or growing) list. They may not pack the nutritional punch of other green vegetables (broccoli, kale etc.) but they do contain significant levels of potassium to control blood pressure and vitamin C to boost your immune system. 

The courgette’s thin dark skin is high in soluble fibre, which slows digestion and stabilises blood sugar levels – potentially getting rid of those pesky mid-afternoon sweet cravings. Soluble fibre can also prevent constipation and help with those horrible IBS symptoms so many of us endure. 

You can buy courgettes from most big supermarkets as well as small farmers markets (when in season). Many prefer to buy locally sourced courgettes as supermarkets can of course ship vegetables thousands of miles despite them being in season a few minutes down the road, but how and where you buy is always a personal choice. 

Courgettes / Zucchini ... they are on my shopping list! 

We bring a variety of recipe ideas and articles to this blog, and not all may be suitable for you. If you may have any food allergies, or underlying health issues these must always be taken into account. If you are a diabetic and not sure how certain foods may affect your blood sugars, test is best, i.e. use your meter.

All the best Jan

27 comments:

Catarina said...

The gratin looks stupendous. I wii try to make it sometimes this week.
Thanks!
:)

CJ Kennedy said...

I wish I liked cheese

Tom said...

...great idea.

Marfi-topia said...

yes! I love this, thank you:)

ann said...

Zucchini are in season here. This looks like a great recipe to get some variety besides zucchini bread.

Jeanie said...

This looks like a great way to use the prolific zucchini that abounds at this season!

sage said...

Zucchini is normally so abundant here (early in the season, for the heat does them in by mid-July). This year, sadly, some worm attacked my zucchini and I only got one fruit (thankfully I did have a nice harvest of cucumbers, which ended up in pickles.

www.thepulpitandthepen.com

Sandi said...

Yum...this looks FABULOUS!

JFM said...

Great idea...love it!!!
Have a lovely day 🍂🌞🍁

Valerie-Jael said...

Sounds wonderful, lucky I'm not hungry this evening. Valerie

Christine said...

Looks delicious!

Sandra Cox said...

Zucchini with pasta or fritters or quiche all sound delicious.

Mary Kirkland said...

I've made a lot of different dishes with zucchini but this is a new one for me. I will have to try this because it sounds really good.

William Kendall said...

I still have not had zucchini.

VENTANA DE FOTO said...

Por regla general, me gustan las verduras y ese plato se ve delicioso.

No está mal para evitar acumular calorías.

Elephant's Child said...

And they grow into marrows so quickly...

Lowcarb team member said...

VENTANA DE FOTO said...
Por regla general, me gustan las verduras y ese plato se ve delicioso.

No está mal para evitar acumular calorías


Google translate:
As a rule, I like vegetables and that dish looks delicious.

Not bad to avoid accumulating calories.

Rose said...

Another one that sounds delicious....

Victor S E Moubarak said...

Tasty ... very tasty indeed.

God bless.

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

This sounds absolutely delicious.

Laurel Wood said...

We would love this savory dish!
Wishing you a very nice upcoming weekend.

My name is Erika. said...

If I only had zucchini in my garden this year. I am very disappointed in that fact. I guess I will have to buy a couple to try this. It looks so good.

Sue (this n that) said...

It looks so inviting. We have zucchini quite often but I'm not too adventurous with it... definitely time to try something different such as you've shared. Thanks Jan :D)

baili said...

what an incredible recipe dear Jan
special thanks for this one i just called my younger one and showed the image of dish he just hate zucchini and me and hubby love it and as because it is season here now day we cook it often

i think he will like this one hopefully

Bill said...

That looks delicious and I love courgettes.
Thanks for the recipe., Jan.

Teresa said...

Se ve sabroso. Un beso.

Sami said...

Love gratins and this one is interesting as I love zucchini. Thanks Jan