Courgettes a la Nicoise

This is another Elizabeth David classic. It was originally from French Provincial Cooking, which is surely in anyone’s list of the best cookery books of all time. It would be nice hot – even as a pasta sauce I guess, but on a blazing July day like this, I like it cold.

500g Courgettes

250g tomatoes

Olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

Salt & Pepper

6 stoned black olives

Slice the courgettes into rounds – ours are the round variety so I’m cutting ours into wide batons while the boy is chopping the garlic. Elizabeth David always thought that the garlic crusher was the most useless implement when you could chop it and, using a little salt, crush it with the blade of a knife. I don’t think they’re useless but they are a nightmare to wash up. There is no point in asking the boy to do it as next time you use it there will still be bits of garlic hard-dried onto it.

Add a good glug of oil to a sauté pan and slowly cook the courgettes and garlic. When they are just starting to give, add the tomatoes. They should be skinned and chopped. Life’s too short and I’m too hot. I have one big beef tomato that is absolutely perfectly ripe so I’m chopping that, skin on, and adding a small carton of chopped tomatoes. Add the olives – I’m using the black wrinkly Kalamata ones. Elizabeth David says to halve them – I forgot to do this though I doubt it much matters.

I'm really tempted to ad some dried oregano and/or a few chilli flakes, and I probably will do next time I make this . This time however I'm going for an Elizabeth David original.

Let it stew gently, stirring from time to time, until you have a nice tomato sauce. Season liberally .  If you have any, strew with chopped parsley. We don’t have any though. The boy tends not to notice things like that though.