Join us for our Open Evening at Leiths on Thursday 5th February 2026, 6:30–8:30pm, and discover how the Culinary Diploma can launch your career in food.
Join us for our Open Evening at Leiths on Thursday 5th February 2026, 6:30–8:30pm, and discover how the Culinary Diploma can launch your career in food.
Go to any country market at this time of year and you will find stalls crammed with summer berries, crates of heirloom tomatoes, bouquets of rainbow chards and possibly the first of the season’s aubergines, to name but a few of the range on offer at this glorious time. Amongst the celebration of colour you are also sure to see courgettes, lots of courgettes!
As any proud grower will tell you, courgette plants are absolutely prolific once the harvest begins in July. For those who have managed to fend off the slugs and snails through the wetter months they will be rewarded. Plants can yield up to three – four courgettes a week if picked regularly. Alternatively, you could leave the plant to its own devices by allowing the fruit to grow to full maturity. Here the courgette flesh will become watery and spongy. Its outer skin will toughen as it matures into a marrow.
It was only really from the 1960’s onwards that we in the UK began to get a taste for the younger, sweeter courgettes rather than the more muted tones of marrows. Today your typical large dark green courgettes are plentiful all year round in supermarkets. But to enjoy the finest courgettes you really want to get the freshly picked and finger-sized ones. They are just that little bit sweeter and crunchier.
We can go further still for those especially discerning because courgettes come in all sorts of shapes and colours. There are round varieties, elongated ones (like the snake-like Rampicante) and of course spectacular golden courgettes. Perhaps most bizarre of all are Zephyr courgettes which I have only recently discovered. They look more like something to come out of an artist’s studio than a gardener enthusiast’s plot. It has the typical striped, green colour at its tip while the rest of the fruit appears to have been dipped in bright yellow paint. This quirk of nature is well worth a try if you happen to stumble across it. It has a buttery flavour to go with its striking appearance.
Courgettes can sit alongside practically any summer dish. You can slice them raw to make a fresh, crunchy salad. Or roast them until soft and beautifully sweet or throw them on the BBQ whole to get a charred, smoky effect. I love their ability to absorb and complement other flavours like garlic and lemon. They can be so much more than just a filler in a ratatouille.
That said, even the best ingredients have their limits and there is one fad I simply cannot get behind – courgette spaghetti. I’ll confess, just like everyone else, I went out and bought a spiralizer when courgetti mania took the world by storm. Indeed I still have that gadget at back of the kitchen cupboard gathering dust. While the idea of healthy courgette spaghetti is all well and good, my attempts have always left me with a spaghetti mix that quickly turns to a watery stodge rather than anything resembling pasta. I am open to arguments in favour of courgetti if anyone feels strongly enough on the matter!
It would be negligent not to mention one further preserve of the courgette grower – the highly sought after bright orange flowers. Though plentiful on the plant these trumpet – shaped flowers don’t last long once picked. As a result, they are a prized rarity amongst chefs. They are traditionally stuffed with any number of mediterranean medleys such as ricotta with lemon and herbs or goats’ cheese with honey before being fried in batter to light crisp. Summer on a plate!
Try Diploma headteacher Lou’s stunning courgette galette and you can even pair it with our wine pairing of the month chosen by Marjorie Legendre, Leiths’ Head of Wine, here.