Courgettes, Zucchini, Courgettes, Zucchini

Pretty much the only thing I can guarantee will grow without fail in our allotment is courgettes. After 3 weeks of only eating courgettes, I never want to see another one again. Especially after I gave them to my nearly one year old twins so many times that even they got sick of them. Once particular vomiting incident has left me with scars for life. 

When my enthusiasm for the garden wanes a bit (usually at the most fruitful time of year), I don't go for three weeks and we have huge, giant marrows to deal with. I shouldn't be ungrateful for these lovely vegetables  though. We have been making a lot of courgette and lemon juice which is actually delicious and really cleansing. 

I grew two different varieties this year, both from Franchi seeds - the Courgette Rugosa of Friuli which has been described as 'one of the ugliest courgettes you'll ever see' (however probably one of the tastiest) and the courgette Genovese. Both delicious and very easy to grow. 

M&C not quite sure about the Friulan courgettes!

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WTF to do with Redcurrants?

I still have a huge bag of redcurrants in the freezer from last year. They are pretty bitter little berries that I don't think taste good on their own and you don't often see recipes using them except for jams, chutneys etc.

I love their beautiful colour though and they really look great in the garden so this year I was determined to use them somehow before they rot on the tree and go to waste. 

I found a great article on the Huffington Post with a number of redcurrant recipes. 

I ended up making this red currant tea cake from the gorgeous Fork Spoon Knife blog. It was surprisingly delicious and the use of ground almonds gave it a sticky, marzipan-y texture. I must have got the measurements wrong somehow when converting from cups to grams because it didn't rise at all but it tastes delicious nonetheless and was eaten in one sitting.

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