Round Courgettes - what to do?

I've often wondered about round courgettes - you know - the ones that look like a Napoleonic war grenade. The skins are a bit tough, and they are full of seeds; if you google for a recipe they all seem to be of the stuffed vegetable variety - not really my thing.

This is easy, but, be warned, it is distinctly rich. Good, though, and, I think, all my own!

For two:-

2 round courgettes

1 large chicken breast

1 medium (i.e. the size of a billiard ball) onion

white wine or dry vermouth

butter

plain flour

cream - whipping or double - about 1/2 a 300ml pot

2 teaspoonsful of pesto

1 oz or so of good strong cheese - parmesan or a powerful cheddar

Right, as Pomaigne would say, before you start get a big pan of water on the gas. Turn the oven onto aboout 160c grill/fan if you have a fan oven, or just to 160c if not. Tops off the courgettes, cut them in half downwards and scrape out the seeds with a teaspoon. Peel, halve and slice the onion as finely as you can. Melt about 2 teaspoons of butter, with a little olive oil if you like, throw in the onions and add a couple of good turns of the salt mill. Fry gently until soft and clear but not browned. Trim off as much of the fat and sinew from the breast as you can be bothered to do. Cut it into quite small cubes - about the size of a backgammon doubling dice, say 2cms or a bit less. Put the chicken ito the onion pan, turn up the heat and stir well with a wooden spoon. After a minute or so, once all the chicken pieces are well seared, add a teaspoon of flour, and keep stirring so that it cooks for about another minute. Stir in the cream, mix well and put aside off the heat.

The water will be boiling well by now; drop in the courgette halves and parbiol for about 2 minutes - hot through but far from mushy. Drain them well and put them into an oven proof dish in which they will comfortably fit, round side down. Stir two teaspoons (more if you want but this is as much as I like) of pesto into the creamy chicken and pour it over the courgettes. Grate cheese over the whole thing and put it into the oven for about 20 minutes. If you do not have a fan/grill option, put the grill on for the last 5 minutes so that the top browns nicely.

This is really delicious but, as I said, rich. It needs plain company, and maybe something a bit crisp. The crushed, roasted new potatoes from Oliver Perrin's Table in the Tarn would be good and something green.

Lamb meatball goulasch

Purists amongst you will shiver at such a travesty of traditional fare, but, once in a while, when you are standing in the supermarket wondering what to have for supper - cheap, tasty, easy, try this. For two:-

A pack of Lamb meatballs

A largeish onion

3 or 4 cloves of garlic

3/4 tin of beef consomme (or your own stock - much better)

A level teaspoon of black peppercorns and ditto pink if you have them

A heaped teaspoon of hot smoked paprika ("Dahlia" is good)

3 Heaped teaspoons of sweet smoked paprika (ditto)

2 heaped teaspoons plain flour

A good splash of red or white wine, or, better, dry vermouth

A couple of bay leaves

Salt

NO TOMATO!

Brown the meatballs and remove them from the pan. Slice the onion, not too fine, or roughly chop, and add to the pan with a few twists of the salt mill (salt on the onions makes them sweat and cook better). Add the peppercorns whole - don't worry, they will soften and provide just a spicy tingle later on. Slice the garlic as finely as you can (on no account crush it) and add to the hot onion. If you add it too soon it may overcook and go bitter. Once the onions are cooked (but not browned) add the flour and the paprika and cook for a couple of minutes. There should be plenty of fat from the lamb but if it looks a bit dry, add some more - olive oil, duck fat, even a bit of butter will do, or some fat froma aprevious roast. Cook for a couple of minutes, and add the wine or dry vermouth, which you boil to about half. Put the meatballs into a small ovenproof casserole with the bay leaves underneath them. Add the stock/consomme to the onion pan stir well and pour over the meatballs. It should look a bit liquid - there will be some evaporation. Put it into the oven for 7 hours at 110 degrees C. You can lower the time and up the temperature proportionately, but not less tahn 3 hours and more than 160C. Long and slow is better, and if tou cook it, let it get cold and reheat it the next day it will be even better.

A lot of words but it is quick and simple. Before you serve it, you may need to remove some fat - a double layer of kitchen paper towel pressed gently onto the surface should remove it, if not, repeat.

Serve with plain rice, or baked or new potatoes and a simple green veg.