Weather warning work - nice and tasty.

Here in East Anglia we have had a severe weather warning because of the high temperatures. The roads have been melting around here, and sadly there have been lots of fires in the fields etc. It is haymaking time, and just one cigarette butt thrown out of a car window is enough to catch the hedges alight and spreads to the fields in minutes. Just one spark floating in the air is enough to cause a blaze
which races across the fields in no time. I am wondering whether to move my girls out of the meadow and further up into the flower and fruit area onto the soil. Trouble is at the moment, the meadow ground is so hard that I can not pull out the temporary fencing that surrounds their run. I would need Pat to help me too, and would also need a cool day. Something to ponder on.

So this fair and freckled maiden, took heed of the weather warning and stayed indoors in the shade. Ceiling fans earning their keep, and running up the electricity bill, but a necessary at the moment. We only have them on in the room we are either sitting or working in, so often one or two at the most at a time.

Thinking of my pile of courgettes, I decided to have a go at the recipe that Karen recommended, which came from the Crete web page. But to save you looking it up, here it is on the next page down.

Me being me, just had to have a fiddle with it so I did a huge pile of everything with at least double the proportions. I used some of my rusk mountain instead of breadcrumbs, and used just 1 egg for the whole lot as my neighbour wanted some first thing so I gave her all I could get in the boxes. 6 bantam eggs and 6 huge eggs from my Norfolk lasses, which left me with just one.

I used all different varieties of courgettes, red and white early potatoes, washed but not peeled, and paprika and tumeric – but after eating a couple burgers, I could have added much more than I did.

When I fried them they had a lovely crispy coating, because of the rusks. I think that I might try them in the oven to cook next time too.

This is how I did it:-


Helped myself to ten washed courgettes from my mountain. I grated them and all the other ingredients as per recipe instructions.


So here is a gigantic bowl which we bought in Kefalonia many years ago. We went for two weeks in October and it was shut. Yup - a good reason why the holiday was a last minute bargain. We all got shifted from our booked hotels to one, in the back of beyond, which was the only one open and that was because the manager was getting married and all the relatives were staying there! Every sightseeing attraction, taverna, etc was closed and barred. The only places open were the churches, and the usual shops. But we had a wonderful time walking around the island and bought this hand painted bowl as a reminder. Goodness knows why I keep buying all these bowls!

We were the very last plane to leave the island, then the airport closed up for winter!

Oops sorry - digressed.
So above is the big bowl of grated ingredients.




(Now transferred to an even bigger plastic bowl.)

This is how it looks when you have added the other ingredients, and squished it all together between your fingers.......lovely. I really liked that bit, so soothing on a hot day.

Did I ever tell you about my mother in law, (now departed bless her soul) who showed me, as an 18 year old newly married how to make bread pudding? I was transported back to that day whilst mixing this with my hands the same way.

M.I.L, whilst mixing in a similar bowl, the soggy wet bread and currants and spices, through her hands and fingers for quite a while, said, "I love doing this bit, it really cleans your hands and your nails!"

(At this point I must add, I always scrub my hands and nails before touching food, and on some occassions wear new surgical gloves if I and working with large quantities of onions, or carrots - the latter stains your fingers)



Here are what mine looked like - these are in the freezer now. I had run out of parchment paper, so put them on sprinkled flour. Once frozen I will bag them up and vacuum pack them with my Orved machine.

I did start to make patties, like the recipe said, but I was too hot, and I had made so much I decided to make burgers. Just a metal ring, sat on a floured work surface, filled with the mixture and pressed down firmly with a metal spoon. Then off with the ring and on to the next one.

They are far more colourful in reality than these photos show.

In the pan ready to be cooked. We had them with a plate of home grown salad and home grown and made coleslaw (yes with some courgettes too). They were really filling and wonderful. The rusks gave them a lovely crispy finish - a bit like you get on tempura. Next time I make them - and I will be making more for freezing, I will add generous amounts of mixed spices so that they have a nice spicy Maroccan flavour.

Pat said that they were absolutely delicious - so do give them a go, it really is a nice recipe - and something different.

So thanks for that Karen, I do try out your recipes.

The next thing I am going to try is Redwitch’s recipe that she found for me – Courgette Loaf. I just need the girls to lay three eggs tomorrow and I’ll be trying it out.