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.