Better make a cake with them then. Any excuse! Except this cake is so wonderful, we buy courgettes especially. Don’t be put off by the thought of eating green cake. It’s only mildly green. Just think of it as a green version of carrot cake, which of course is a vegetable too. D tells me it doesn’t count to our 5-a-day though. Pity. 150g unsalted butter, softened
175g caster sugar
3 eggs
225g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
225g sultanas or dried vine fruits
300g small courgettes, grated
70g pine nuts
Finely-grated zest and juice of 1 lemon Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas 4. Grease and line the base of a 20cm high-sided flan tin or springform cake tin. Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating constantly. Sieve the flour and baking powder in, and fold in with the sultanas, courgettes, 50g of the pine nuts, lemon zest and juice. Pour the thick batter into your prepared cake tin, scatter the remaining pine nuts over the top. Bake in the centre of the oven for 40-45 minutes. The cake is ready when it is slightly brown on top, and a cake skewer comes out clean when inserted into the centre of the cake. Leave the cake to cool completely in the tin, before turning out. The recipe is an old Italian favourite, passed down through the generations. It’s a cutting from a [very] old issue of Waitrose Food Illustrated magazine. Don’t be tempted to use marrow-sized courgettes for this cake, its best with the small sweet firm ones. 5 to remember
tenemos – we have
demasiado/a – too many/too much
excepto/a – except
especialmente – especially
ligeramente – mildly