cp 1I’ve just cooked a really delicious meal, and I thought that I must rush out here and share it with you, Dear Readers!

My favourite food is Peasant Food.

I often find that Nouvelle Cuisine is pretentious and although it looks pretty, it’s often pretty tasteless!

The best dishes in the world are usually made from locally-produced basic ingredients, and are bursting with flavour.

We have an allotment, and grow most of our own vegetables, with enough to freeze to last us through the Winter.

Some things, like cucumbers, courgettes, marrows and tomatoes, don’t freeze in their natural state. But they can be made into various dishes, or a soup or a tomato sauce, that will keep and freeze.

This year we’re having a glut of massive cucumbers, and courgettes, with runner beans rapidly catching up.

Marrows can be boring if just boiled. They’re nice stuffed now and then.

But this recipe is a real find. I’ll be doing it again, with some variations too!


Italian Marrow  Pancakes.

The ingredients sounded a bit sparse to me, but I got 6 generous-sized pancakes.

225g marrow, grated. I used half a marrow.                  A shake of black pepper

2tsps salt                               50g  hard cheese of your choice.

2 large eggs                           30g plain flour

3 garlic cloves                       Olive oil for frying


Grate the courgette (I blitzed it rapidly in my mixer.)

Scrape it into a colander and sprinkle 1 tsp of the salt onto it and mix it in.

Place a weight on top. (I used a small saucepan filled with water.)

Leave it for 30 minutes to get rid of most of the liquid, then squeeze out as much as possible.

Place all the ingredients into your food mixer and blitz to mix, but don’t overdo it!

If you haven’t got a mixer, beat the eggs, add the chopped garlic, then the seasoning and the grated cheese. Whisk in the flour and fold in the grated courgette.

Warm some olive oil in a frying-pan and drop about 2 tblsps of the batter for 1 pancake.

I did 3 at once.

Turn them over when the bottom is golden and cook the other side.

Keep them warm until they’ve all been cooked.

(I placed them on a plate with some kitchen roll on it, and placed an inverted dish on the top.)

Serve as a starter, or with a salad.

They’re very filling, and can be a meal on their own.