Rainy Day Cooking – Tomato and Courgette Loaf with Tomato Chutney

Raining again, so no gardening for me today. I’d put aside a recipe that had caught my eye in the weekend Guardian. Tomato and courgette loaf with tomato chutney, “well that sounds delicious” I thought, perhaps I should give it a go. As luck would have it, I had a couple of manky/well-matured courgettes lurking in the nether regions of the fridge, just waiting for an opportunity to shine. Even better I had a fair few of the other ingredients. I decided not to attempt the chutney this time, considering it best to concentrate on the loaf and hopefully, with a prevailing wind at my stern (no sniggering in the cheap seats Mr K) my creation would be ready by lunchtime. Delayed slightly, but also buoyed-up, by a re-run of Star Trek “The Next Generation”, I boldly went where no cook had gone before. In our kitchen anyway.

As always, the recipe, or approximation of, will appear in normal text, my interpretation is in italics.

Tomato and Courgette Loaf (sans tomato chutney)

First make the chutney…..

Not doing that so blah, blah, blah, skim and skip straight to ……

Heat the oven to gas mark 6, something about preparing your loaf tin.

Turn oven on, as so nicely requested, oil loaf tin.

Put grated courgettes and half a teaspoon of salt in a bowl and steep for 20 minutes.

Grated? Sounds like hard work. I’ll grate them in the food processor and then I can give it a cursory wipe it out and use it for the cheese later. Please note that I was reading ahead, as all good cooks should do when attempting a new recipe. Courgies duly grated (no not corgies, rest assured no royal dogs were harmed making this loaf) and set to steep. Ponder on “steep” for a moment, consider it a rather wonderful word. Say it out loud a few times.

Mix flour, baking powder, bicarb, garam masala, caster sugar and salt in a large bowl.

All easy except for the perennial wrong sugar problem, used demerara which of course wouldn’t go through the sieve so just tipped it in the bowl and stirred it around a bit. Not sure why we need sugar in a savoury recipe, but it seems to happen a lot these days. Of course, I could just leave it out, but I am by nature a follower of rules (again, quiet back there!).

In another bowl, whisk eggs oil and yoghurt, grated cheddar and coriander.

As I didn’t have Greek yoghurt, I used soya yoghurt. To my mind, one word in common is good enough. Although sometimes it is less than one. This often ends messily. Best not dwell that. All whisked to perfection.

Tip steeped courgettes into a clean tea towel and wring out as much liquid as possible.

Tipped steeped courgettes half onto the tea towel (clean) and half onto work surface (cleanish). Scoop wayward gratings to where they belong and squeeze and squeeze and squeeze murky green liquid into the sink. Quite satisfying.

Stir the courgettes and egg mixture into the dry ingredients and 150g of the reserved chutney.

Oops

I said……

I heard you! It seems I needed the chutney after all. Too late now, what to do? What is red and a bit liquidy? I know, red pesto! It might work. I know, there are absolutely no words in common with tomato chutney, but at least it is a similar colour. And it is all I’ve got. Stir all the stuff together with a jar of red pesto and hope for the best.

Transfer to the lined loaf tin and arrange halved red and yellow cherry tomatoes on the top.

Lined? When did you say that? Oh yes, I see. Quickly line tin, carefully spoon in mixture and arrange cherry tomatoes prettily on top. I only have red, but that is definitely acceptable. Compared to other “adjustments” it is small beer. Place in oven.

Drizzle the loaf with the final tablespoon of oil and bake for 40 minutes.

Take loaf out of the oven and drizzle with oil. Put back in. Set grumpy cat timer.

Cover with foil, lower temperature to gas 5 and bake for 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Easy peasy, except the skewer bit, so I use a knife. Bit wobbly, put it back in for another 5 minutes. That will do. Probably.

Leave to cool in the tin for at least 30 minutes.

What, you have got to be joking?!!!!

Naturally I did wait, restraint is my middle name, and very nice it was too. We ate warm slices of the loaf with label-free homemade soup from the freezer, most likely tomato and carrot, and our cockles were warmed.