Courgette frittata with quinoa flour

This is truly a very versatile recipe. I have now baked it like a cake, fried it as fritters and cooked it on the stove top as a frittata. All are delicious and all are suitable as a main dish or as a side. It is also something I cook on both sides of the Atlantic as courgettes (zucchini) grow in both St. Lucia and UK. I’m posting it now because we had people to dinner last weekend and this is the recipe people asked for most. It was quite a challenge planning this dinner as we had confirmed carnivores, pescatarians, coeliac and dairy intolerance. All in one grouping of 15…..definitely got the braincicle going.

 

I often substitute quinoa either in the wholegrain state or as a flour. Having the flour as an ingredient really opens up the palette. It behaves like wheat flour in that it binds and mixes well, but remember it is without gluten so will not raise well.

Serves 4 as main course

600g grated courgette

28g roughly chopped coriander

15g roughly chopped mint (or broad leaf thyme)

15g roughly chopped parsley

1 finely chopped green chilli

juice 1 lime/lemon

grated thumb sized piece fresh ginger

1 fat clove garlic pressed

3 beaten eggs

150 g (1c) quinoa flour

200g crumbled feta (optional)

salt and pepper

The first thing to do is grate the courgettes. I do this straight into my colander while standing at the sink. Fortunately courgettes grate really easily and quickly,  so there is no need to use the food processor or other implement to create more washing up. Sprinkle liberally with salt and leave a few minutes while you get on with the other ingredients.

Again this dish is versatile in that I have played around with different herbs depending on what is available. You could use more than I have suggested if you want to as it works well. I like coriander as the main player, but you might prefer parsley, mint, thyme or even rocket (arugula). Once you’ve got all the herbs and the other ingredients chopped, sliced or pressed and you’ve mixed them (excluding the quinoa flour and eggs) into a bowl, squeeze and squeeze the courgettes (still in the sink) until the green frothy liquid that pours forth seems to be stopping. Add the grated courgette to the bowl and mix thoroughly.

Go ahead now and add the remaining ingredients. Go easy on the salt because remember you used it to help extract the liquid from the courgettes. If you are cooking this as a cake like in the above photo, then grease your cake tin appropriately. If you will be frying the batter like fritters, then heat up your olive or coconut oil. If cooking on the top, select a suitable sized frying pan and gently heat some oil before putting the batter in. You’re going to have to use discretion on cooking times because of the number of options available. I promise whichever you go for…..its is delicious.