Courgette

Courgette are usually served cooked. It can be prepared using a variety of cooking techniques, including steamed, boiled, grilled, stuffed and baked, barbecued, fried, or incorporated in other recipes such as soufflés. It also can be baked into a bread, or incorporated into a cake mix. Its flowers can be eaten stuffed and are a delicacy when deep fried, as tempura.

The courgette has a delicate flavor and requires little more than quick cooking with butter or olive oil, with or without fresh herbs.The skin is left in place. Quick cooking of barely wet courgette in oil or butter allows the vegetable to partially boil and steam, with the juices concentrated in the final moments of frying when the water has gone, prior to serving. courgette can also be eaten raw, sliced or shredded in a cold salad,baked into a bread, as well as hot and barely cooked in hot salads, as in Thai or Vietnamese recipes.

courgette should be stored not longer than three days.[citation needed] They are prone to chilling damage which shows as sunken pits in the surface of the fruit, especially when brought up to room temperature after cool storage.

 
Two Tondo di Piacenza courgetteIn 2005, a poll of 2,000 people revealed the courgette to be the Britain's 10th favorite culinary vegetable. In Mexico, the flower (known as flor de calabaza) is preferred over the vegetable[citation needed], and is often cooked in soups or used as a filling for quesadillas.

In Italy, courgette are served in a variety of ways, especially breaded and pan-fried. Some restaurants in Rome specialize in deep-frying the flowers, known as fiori di zucca.

In France courgette is a key ingredient in ratatouille, a stew of summer vegetables prepared in olive oil and cooked for an extended time over low heat. The dish, originating near present-day Nice, is served as a side dish or on its own at lunch with bread. courgettes are stuffed with meat with other vegetables like tomatoes or bell peppers in a dish named farcis (stuffed).

In Turkish cuisine, courgette is the main ingredient in the popular dish mücver , or "courgette pancakes", made from shredded courgette, flour and eggs, lightly fried in olive oil and eaten with yogurt.

In the Levant, courgette is stuffed with minced meat and rice plus herbs and spices and steamed. It is also used in various kinds of stew.

In Greece, courgette is usually fried or boiled with other vegetables. It is served as an hors d'œuvre. During fasting seasons it may be served as a main dish. In several parts of Greece, the flowers of the plant are stuffed with white cheese, usually feta or mizithra cheese, or with a mixture of rice and herbs. Then they are deep-fried or, less often, baked with tomato sauce in the oven.

In Bulgaria, courgette are fried and then served with a dip, made from yoghurt, garlic and dill. Another popular dish is oven-baked courgette—sliced or grated—covered with a mixture of eggs, yoghurt, flour and dill.

In Egypt, courgette are cooked with tomato sauce, garlic and onions