Tzatziki-coated Courgettes and Pecans

I’ve crumbled feta into courgettes for years now – sometimes with nuts and sometimes with raisins. Then I found I had some bought tzatziki in the fridge which needed eating up – I threw that in too and was happily surprised with the result. In fact tzatziki is always best home-made, but if you wanted to cheat with this recipe you could simply by ready-made tzatziki and add the feta and walnuts.
Now I always get asked for the recipe for this. It goes particularly well with lamb.
For four
- 400g/14 oz courgettes (baby ones are best)
- 4 tbsp Greek yoghurt
- 1 fat garlic clove, crushed with 1 tsp smoked salt
- Juice and zest of a small lemon
- Olive oil spray
- 40g/⅓ cup chopped pecans (or walnuts)
- 100g/4 oz/½ standard pack feta cheese
- About ten grinds Indonesian long pepper
- 2 tbsp chopped fresh dill – or if you are serving this with lamb – mint
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You’re after the professional striped effect Briefly dry fry the walnut pieces – why? Go here to find out
- Using a potato peeler cut the baby courgettes into long lengths
- Arrange them on an oiled, ribbed, griddle pan, spray over some olive oil and grind over some pepper. Griddle for a couple of minutes on each side, until they get those attractive, professional-looking black stripes. If you don’t have a griddle pan you can simply fry!
- Mix the yoghurt, garlic, and lemon juice together in a bowl large enough to contain the courgettes. Keep in a warm place. Reserve the zest.
- Just before serving mix the courgettes in with the yoghurt mixture.
- Serve the coated courgettes on each plate along with whatever meat you are offering. Crumble over some feta, and sprinkle over walnuts, dill and lemon zest