This breakfast recipe was cooked in tandem with eco-chef James Strawbridge during our conversation on sustainable living over breakfast for Episode 7 of my podcast, Breakfast & Beyond. James’s latest book, The Complete Vegetable Cookbook is a celebration of the vegetables he uses and loves the most, packed with information and recipes with an emphasis on zero waste cooking - learning about and celebrating the less-used parts of the vegetables that we can enjoy as part of our meals and in so doing, create less food waste.
When planning our late-summer breakfast menu I was keen to make courgette pancakes as we had a good supply of courgettes growing in the garden here at Botelet; however I was keen to explore with James whether there was more of the courgette plant that could be included than I would normally use - the main part of the vegetable, and possibly the flower. Turns out there’s lots more! We incorporated both rather gnarly ends of the courgette along with some of the leaf stem, grating them into the pancake batter. We also finely chopped young leaves and added these to the maple drizzle along with the flower.
The pancakes turned out to be delicious - fresh, zingy, sweet and sour all wrapped up in one - and I love that it represents zero-waste principles in action through this one simple recipe.
I hope you enjoy cooking this - as ever, feel free to amend, adapt and change according to preferences and food that you have available and needs using up - and I’d love to know any recipes you use that celebrate the lesser-known parts of our humble veg!
Recipe: Zero Waste Courgette Pancakes
Serves 2
Ingredients:
For the pancakes
1 courgette (use all, including hard ends), approx 120g
Young part of 1 courgette leaf stalk
50g Self-raising flour (I used gluten free)
1 tsp baking powder (I used gluten free)
1 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp rose harissa
1 egg
50g ricotta
Zest of 1 lemon
Salt & pepper
For the pancake topping
2 courgette flowers
1 medium sized courgette leaf (size is flexible)
Small sprig fresh mint (optional)
1 cardamom pod
200ml maple syrup
1 chilli
Olive oil
Method:
Place two plates in the oven to warm.
Begin by grating the courgette, including both hard ends. Place the grated courgette in a sieve. Sprinkle salt over grated courgette, mix in with a spoon and leave to sit over a bowl while preparing the rest of the pancake batter.
In a medium sized bowl place the flour, baking powder, ground coriander and 1/2 tsp salt, mix well.
Beat the egg in a small bowl, mix in the ricotta and harissa, then combine with the dry ingredients.
Chop the courgette leaf stalk and add to the mixture.
Press the grated courgette firmly into the sieve to squeeze out excess moisture, then add courgette to the bowl and mix together well.
Season with salt & pepper.
Prepare the pancake topping: finely chop the courgette leaf and mint. Place in a bowl, pour boiled water on top to blanch then drain through a sieve and run cold water over them to stop them cooking. Set aside.
Remove the cardamom seed from the pod and grind in a pestle and mortar.
Measure out the maple syrup into a jug, add the ground cardamom and stir.
Chop the chilli and set aside.
To make the pancakes: in a non-stick frying pan drizzle olive oil and warm over a medium heat. Once warm, use approx 1 tbsp of pancake batter for each pancake, place into hot oil and shape, should make 4 pancakes. Cook for 2-3 mins until golden brown, then flip over and repeat on the other side. Remove from heat when ready.
While pancakes are cooking: warm a splash of olive oil in a second, small frying pan over a low heat. When warm, add the courgette flowers. Cook over a gentle heat for a couple of mins until flowers just start to wilt then add maple syrup with ground cardamom. Once the maple syrup is sizzling, add the blanched courgette and mint leaves, simmer for 30 seconds then remove from heat.
Remove plates from oven, arrange pancakes on each plate then place one courgette flower on top of pancakes on each plate, drizzle half the maple syrup over pancakes on each plate, and divide chopped chilli and scatter on top. Serve and enjoy!
