The invasion of the courgette

Sharing a garden with someone who is green fingered has been a lovely treat. Our landlady regularly insists we eat her salads, Swiss chard, herbs, rhubarb and courgettes. Not one to turn down such an offer, I have made the most of her wonderful generosity. As gardeners will know, once the courgette plant is ready, it seems like it will never stop sprouting. From one day to the next, courgettes grow a couple of centimetres! Rather impressive.

One of my favourite dishes involves plenty of summer flavours: crab, chillies, red onion, lemon, capers and of course, our much loved courgette. Teamed with lovely wholegrain spaghettini, you have yourself a delicious week night dinner.

Crab, Chilli & Lemon Spaghettini
Adapted from In the Mood for Food by Jo Pratt

Ingredients
Olive oil
1 large red onion, sliced finely
1 large courgette or two small ones, sliced thinly
1 chilli, chopped
1 lemon, zest and juice
2 generous tablespoons of capers
1 or 2 tins of crab
Wholemeal spaghettini

Method
Add the spaghettini to a large pot of boiling salted water. Heat a large frying pan on medium to high heat. Add a tbsp of olive oil. Then add the sliced courgette, red onion and chilli. Fry until the courgette is slightly browned.

Add in lemon zest, capers. Stir through. With a couple minutes remaining on the pasta, add the crab and a splash of lemon juice.

Drain the pasta and put it back into the pot, throw in the crab and courgette mix. Add a glug of olive oil and some lemon juice. Season if needed. Serves two generously.

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