My courgette glut has started. It’s not mega by any standards, one or two a day, and this year there is a proliferation of male flowers and rarely a sufficiency to stuff. Anyway, female flowers, ideally with little courgettes attached, are best. Last night, after a really hot day, the biggest of this morning’s clutch of little courgettes more than doubled its size, so I picked it and diced it to fry in garlic for an omelette. To cheer thing along, I added a mass of grated Parmesan, some basil (seriously glutting) and a few halved mozzarella balls. I was aiming for one omelette to share and made a simple tomato salad with spring onion and regular vinaigrette to go with. Actually, it was lovely. The mozzarella molten and gooey, the courgette juicy and fresh with hints of garlic, the egg soft, buttery and luscious and every mouthful with the scent of basil.
Serves 2
Prep: 15 min
Cook: 10 min
6 large eggs
3 tbsp finely grated Parmesan
4 mozzarella balls
6 basil leaves
1 medium courgette
1 garlic clove
1 tbsp olive oil
1 knob butter
Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl. Season with salt and pepper, folding in 2 tbsp Parmesan and then the halved mozzarella and shredded basil. Trim the courgette, quarter lengthways and cut across into dice. Peel, chop then crush the garlic with a pinch of salt. Heat the oil in a reliably non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Stir in the garlic, stirring as it turns aromatic then before it gets a change to brown, stir in the courgette. Keep stirring for a minute or so all the pieces are smeared with garlicky, buttery juices. Add the egg, increase the heat slightly and working from the outside, push the egg with a wooden spatula or spoon towards the middle until there is very little runny egg left on top – a minute of so, deftly lift one half the omelette (an egg slice is handy for this) over the other half and remove from the heat. Halve the omelette onto warmed plates and dust with remaining Parmesan.