How to store courgettes to make them last and how to use up tomatoes- Food For Kids Podcast episode 27

Joanne Roach (00:13)

Hello and welcome to the Food for Kids podcast. I'm Joanne from the Foodies and this is our third regular monthly slot where I run through some money saving tips to make the fresh seasonal fruit and veg we've been buying last longer, go further and store better. The idea is to help you get the most out of your fresh produce so that you spend less, waste less and actually get around to eating what you've bought.

As usual I'm building the choice of produce around the same groups of plants as I use in my children's books to make sure I cover all the bases over the course of the year. And this month, the book of the month is Courgette Wants to be Big. So we're going to be talking all about courgettes and other summer squashes. These are the ones which are more watery in the middle than winter varieties and they have tender skins that don't keep through the winter like a butternut squash or a pumpkin would. But they are in real abundance through the late summer because each plant grows a lot of them. You cut them off and they make new ones.

Courgettes are one of those foods where you see them a bit differently if you grow your own food than if you don't. If you only ever buy them from the supermarket in little packets of three or four, they can seem like quite an outlay for a small amount, although at this time of year they do get quite a bit cheaper. And if you can find a market nearby, you will definitely find loose ones that are cheaper in the summer and the autumn.

But if you grow them at home, you'll know that once they get going, they just keep coming and quite often faster than you can eat them.So they change in your head to being a food you have to be creative with to use them up and make the most of them. So I will cover ideas for making them go further if you've bought them in a small amount, as well as using up a glut if you've got loads.

So let's start with buying and choosing them. When you're picking courgettes out, go for ones that feel firm and heavy for their size with tight skins. Avoid any with wrinkles, soft patches or cuts in the skin as they'll spoil more quickly.

Small to medium courgettes usually have more courgettey kind of flavour and a firmer texture than the bigger ones, the ones that are heading more towards a small marrow, as they can be quite watery and sometimes more fibrous. There are plenty of uses for the bigger ones, which I will get into, but if you're cooking something where you want to know you're eating a courgette then definitely go for smaller and firmer. If you're buying summer squashes such as patty pans or yellow squash then the same rules apply, smooth skin, no blemishes and a nice firm feel.

Okay so you've got them home now for storing them.

Although they are squashes and we think of butternut squash as being kind of room temperature stable, because these ones have thin skins and high water content you should generally keep them in the fridge. You can keep them at room temperature for a few days if you're planning to use them up quickly and garden grown ones often have thicker skins and will keep on the counter for longer. I certainly keep a lot of my bigger thicker skinned ones on the counter but the smaller ones do need the fridge and for most courgettes from a shop the fridge will buy you more time.

They don't like too much moisture so they're best taken out of any plastic packaging and wrap them in bit of paper towel or even a kitchen towel to stop the moisture building up and making them go mouldy. The lowest effort care is to just open the plastic pack at one end so the moisture doesn't build up inside it and go slimy. The salad drawer tends to be drier than the main fridge so if you have got room in there keep them in there. Stored like this they should keep for about a week sometimes two.

Summer squashes are similar, although some of the slightly thicker skinned varieties might last a little longer, and some of them can cope out on the counter.

As for most produce, it's worth checking them every couple of days and using up any that are starting to go soft or have little spots on them before they go further.

If you're growing them and you've suddenly found yourself with a glut of courgettes or a kind neighbour has left them on your doorstep and run away, or you've abandoned the recipe that you intended them for, or you had to buy a bigger pack than you needed and you know you can't get through them in time, freezing is a great option. And on that note, I had my regular monthly chat with Kate Hall from The Full Freezer about freezing courgettes and summer squash. So let's hear that interview now.

Joanne (04:03)

So Kate, August is courgettes. So could you tell us what we can do with our summer squash? light, watery, thin skinned squashes like courgettes and summer squash.

Kate (04:15)

Sure, so this is another nice easy one. Literally with these particular items I would just give them a really good wash. If you are somebody that's not keen on the skin because I know the skin can be a little bit bitter then if you want to you could kind of peel it a little bit but the skin does work as quite a nice protection so if you are happy to keep it then it will survive better in the freezer with the skin on.

And then I literally just slice it up or cube it, get it into the freezer on a flat lined tray. Everything sort of spread out, all the pieces spread out so that you've not got a big clump all together. And then once it's frozen through, you can just pop it into a freezer bag and then whenever you want to use it, so whether you're roasting it, whether you're chucking into pasta dishes or some risotto or whatever, you can just grab it straight from the freezer and throw it into whatever you're cooking from frozen and just cook it through as if it were fresh. It's a really, really quick and easy one. The other option that you can do, although I would say that because they're such high water content items, they will frost up quickly. So you can grate it if you are wanting to bake, maybe make courgette cakes or whatever, you can grate it and freeze the grated courgette or grated summer squash, but you will find the ice will build up. Now, if that happens, it's perfectly fine. It's safe to eat, but it will damage the quality.

Joanne (05:44)

For people who spiralize courgetti then would that be the same for that?

Kate (05:48)

Yeah, it's going to be very susceptible to ice building up because there's so much water in it. So, you know, if you want to do it, that's absolutely fine. You just probably want to be trying to aim to use it much quicker than if it was in bigger chunks. But even the big chunks, I would probably try and use within two or three months. It doesn't matter if you go over that. It's not a safety issue. It's not I'm not telling you to throw it away, but you will want to use it in a different way. So if you have anything like courgette that you've frozen and it's gotten really icy, then you may just want to, you know, throw it into a pasta dish rather than roasting it, for example, where it's a bit more within the dish and you can kind of cover up any damage that's been done by any ice.

Joanne (06:32)

So I've learned something today because I didn't realize that you could freeze courgette raw. I have always, because we grow a lot of food, so I've always got gazillions of courgettes every summer and I always par-cook them or cook them. So I would normally sweat them down in a pan with a little bit of olive oil and some garlic and then obviously reduce the volume and then I would freeze that in portions, which from what you're saying, if it's like two to three months, that makes more sense if you want it to carry on through through the winter. So we will still be putting courgettes in risottos the following April or so, because we've cooked them down. But I did not know that for the shorter term, you could freeze them raw. So that's really cool to know.

Kate (07:12)

Yeah, I think it's really handy, having both of those up your sleeve. So like you say, if you want to have them for longer, then absolutely cooking them is a great way to, avoid any waste and to avoid the same level of freezer burn or damage. But yeah, if you're just, you just need a couple of weeks, if you just know that you're not going to use it this week then definitely just freezing it as it is, is a really quick and convenient way to deal with it really.

Joanne (07:40)

I know I'm doing tomorrow. Okay, thanks very much and I'll link to your can I freeze it channel in the show notes so that people can go and some advice from there.

Kate (07:51)

Fantastic. Thanks so much, Joe.

Joanne (07:53)

Thanks Kate

Joanne Roach (07:57)

So that's freezing either raw or cooked easier than you'd think. And I usually include information about dehydrating in these roundups too, if it's applicable and it definitely is with courgettes. They're easy to dehydrate in cubes or thin slices and they store really well. I tend to do them in thinnish slices. They actually make great crisps if you pop them in the air fryer or the oven from dry and just spray them with a little oil. And I like to add salt or like a Cajun or taco seasoning, or if you're a dairy free household and have nutritional yeast in the pantry then some of that with garlic and onion powder makes them into a great sort of cheese and onion crisp type flavour.

I've also tried blending dried courgettes into a powder and then adding it to soups and stews to add little extra flavour and few extra nutrients, a bit like a stock cube. So if you have a dehydrator, that's how to do that.

OK, so what about using them up without storing them? Courgettes are incredibly versatile once you start thinking beyond them just being a fried or roasted side dish.

One of the simplest things you can do if you've got a lot is to grate them. Grated courgettes cook down quickly and disappear into sauces, stews, even like a bolognese. They add bulk and moisture without being very noticeable. It's pretty handy if you're cooking for children who aren't really sure about green veg.

They also work really well mixed into a fritter batter with a bit of flour, egg and seasoning. I have a recipe on my website for courgette fritters with instructions for children to make them if you fancy that, I'll link to it in the show notes. I love them with sweet chilli sauce and some fries and a salad but they also go really great with ketchup.

If you like baking, courgette cake or muffins are a lovely way to use up a couple of them and the grated courgette helps keep the sponge really moist so just google recipes that have figured out what liquid to remove so that you get a nice light bake. That's another way of using them where they're not obvious to the taste and if you remove the skins you can't even see them either.

Roasted courgettes are obviously great as a side or in something like a ratatouille but you can also add them to salads and they're great in a Mediterranean style couscous kind of a meal.

In the interview with Kate I mentioned that we sweat ours down in a pan with some olive oil and lots of garlic and we freeze them like that. I do a massive batch at one time and then I freeze them in portions and the reason I do it like this is because it makes a great base for a bunch of other things.

Take these sauteed down courgettes with oil and garlic and you add some cream cheese and a little grated cheddar and some black pepper you've got an instant pasta sauce. If you're dairy free do the same with some cashew cream or blended tofu and add some nutritional yeast. You can take the same sweated down courgette mix and add rice, stock and either cheese or nooch to it to make a creamy courgette risotto. And you can again take the same mix and add a smaller amount of cream cheese, some grated cheese or some cashew cream and pile it onto a nice sourdough toast or fancy bread and you've got a lovely grown up snack or starter. Lastly, if you take a double or triple batch of this sauteed mix and add stock, you can make a soup. My favourite version is some of this mix with a couple of potatoes and then blend it at the end with some dairy or plant milk and either grated cheese or nutritional yeast for a lovely cheesy chowder recipe. I'll link to something similar in the show notes,

If you've got an air fryer or some patience with the oven, then thin sticks of young firm courgettes like carrot baton size with a spray of oil can make fun dippers and you can also dip them in egg wash and crumbs and they're lovely too.

If you've just got small amounts to use up then courgettes also go really well in any other pasta sauce. Add them to any red sauce and they will blend and add fibre without changing the flavour. And if you've got one of those giant courgettes that's leaning into being a marrow, they're brilliant stuffed. Just half them lengthways. Scoop out the seedy or fibrous middle and fill with bolognese, cheesy rice or a thick tomato sauce and a bit of cheese before baking.

So that's my roundup on courgettes and summer squashes. I've been talking mostly about courgettes, but to be honest, almost everything I've said would work well with more or less any other summer squash. The little fun individual round ones are always very nice to stuff because it's a little bit of a novelty but if you don't know how to use them up then chop them up and treat them exactly like a courgette and then you can use all of the recipes we've discussed today.

I'll pop some links in the show notes with recipes for some of the things I mentioned plus Kate's links on freezing. I'll see you on Monday for the next episode which will unbelievably be the monthly run through seasonal foods for September already. But in the meantime, happy eating.