Allotment Diaries: three creative recipes to tackle your courgette glut

Welcome to our summer allotment update, when the plot is looking lush and productive. We're harvesting vegetables, fruit and flowers every few days, and we've even started to see the first blackberries, which seems much earlier than usual.

Following the Spring update, I converted an old bin into a water butt, just in time for the hosepipe ban, and it's gradually filling up with rainwater. In dry spells this saves our little legs from too many trips to the dip tank and makes use of every last drop of rain.

The water butt filling up with water (no leaks!)

And I made some nettle feed, although it didn't go very far and only lasted through June. Nonetheless, the courgette plants have gone bananas and we have a serious glut on our hands. So I put a call out for courgette recipes and you didn't disappoint...

Here are three of my favourite ways to use courgettes - and there are many, I absolutely love them - hopefully there's a new one here for you to try.

1. Courgette Crisps

   Moreish snacks made from vegetables? It's a winner for me.

   
   

   Slice your courgettes into thin rounds (about 3mm), sprinkle with salt and leave to drain in a colander for at least half an hour.

   Rinse thoroughly and blot dry, and then onto lined baking trays (our reusable silicone baking liners are perfect for this). Drizzle with olive oil and season liberally with your favourite spices, but don't add any more salt. I used Sabrina Ghayour's Flavour spice blend from Steenberg's but feel free to get creative here.

   Bake in a medium-low oven (150C fan) for 30 minutes to an hour, until they are starting to brown and have gone crispy. The timing will depend on the thickness of your rounds, oven temperature etc so keep checking after 30mins so they don't catch and burn.

   
   

   

   A snacky bowl of courgette crisps

   
   

2. Allotment salad

   Take inspiration from your plot and enjoy freshly picked leaves, veg and edible flowers. The key for this is the zingy dressing - add just before eating so the leaves don't go soggy.

   
   

   For 2 people:

   2 small courgettes cut into ribbons with a vegetable peeler

   2 handfuls of salad leaves, well washed and drained

   2 handfuls of french beans, chopped, blanched in hot water, rinsed with cold

   A handful of feta cheese, crumbled (or vegan equivalent)

   2 tbsp toasted pine nuts or pumpkin seeds for crunch

   A few edible flowers or petals if you have them

   For the salad dressing

   1 lemon, zest and juice

   1 handful of fresh herbs (oregano, parsley & mint work well), finely chopped

   1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

   1 tsp maple syrup or honey

   
   

   Build your salad with your lovely fresh produce, scattering the cheese, crunchy bits and edible flowers over the top. Shake the dressing ingredients together in a jar and pour over.

   

   Allotment salad, making the best of your home-grown produce

   
   

3. Courgette, lemon & pistachio cake

   This is an amalgamation of a few recipes sent in by request. It's absolutely delicious!

   
   

   For the cake

   165g soft light brown sugar

   135g butter, at room temperature

   2 eggs

   2 lemons, juice and zest

   90g greek yoghurt

   190g plain flour, sifted

   3/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda

   3/4 tsp baking powder

   100g shelled pistachios, briefly blitzed or very finely chopped

   1 small courgette (about 200g) grated all moisture squeezed out

   For the decoration

   100g icing sugar, sifted

   1 lemon, juice and zest

   a handful of chopped pistachios

   
   

   To make the cake batter, cream the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy, beat in the eggs, lemon juice and zest and greek yoghurt, then fold in the flour, bicarb and baking powder. Finally fold in the grated courgette and chopped nuts. Pour into a lined loaf tin and bake at 160C (fan) for 35-45 minutes, until a knife come out clean.

   
   

   Once the cake is completely cool, mix the icing sugar and lemon juice to make a thick but pourable icing (add more water if needed). Drizzle over the cake then scatter with the lemon zest and chopped nuts.

   
   

   Probably keeps well in a tin for a few days but I've never found out...

   
   

   

   Deliciously moist courgette, lemon & pistachio cake

So there we have a trio of courgette glut recipes to enjoy any excesses in your plot. And if you're looking to use more of your produce creatively, here are some more in depth guides to harvesting, storing and using your produce,

• Sow Grow Gather by Sam Corfield provides foolproof advice for beginner kitchen gardeners, right through from seed to plate.

• The Garden Apothecary by Christine Iverson explores the hidden delights in your garden and how to use them to make delicious edible treats, herbal cures and restorative beauty products

• The Hedgerow cookbook by Caro Willson and Ginny Knox contains over 100 recipes for wild food so you can make a start on that blackberry harvest!