The first time we decided to grow courgettes, we planted about 8 little seedlings, then watched in awe as they took over the whole vegetable patch and started sprouting dozens and dozens of courgettes.  I battered courgette flowers, made courgette soups, baked courgette cakes, grilled courgettes, roasted courgettes, spaghettified courgettes, used courgettes on pizzas and still had leftover fruit to give away to friends and family. It was a veritable courgette-fest! However, one can only really enjoy so much of a good thing, and so we have limited ourselves to 2 plants per year since then.
One of Iaia’s favourite courgette dishes – this soup –  is also one of her easiest and most flexible.  I make it here with the basic ingredients but you can add any number of things – almonds, cheese, cream, leek, potato…whatever takes your fancy.  A kilo-and-a-half courgette gives you about 2 litres of soup.  Any monster marrows (above 2kg) should be peeled; their skin becomes pumpkin-like and doesn’t break down in cooking.

What you need:
1½ kg courgette(s)
1 onion
1-2 cloves of garlic
olive oil
half a glass of water
salt

What you do:
Put a few tablespoons of olive oil into a heavy-bottomed saucepan and heat gently. Roughly chop the courgette, onion and garlic, and chuck in the pan. Stir everything so it gets a light coating of oil, and add the water to stop anything from catching.  Salt lightly and cover tightly.  Allow to steam/fry/boil for about half an hour, or until the vegetables are all cooked through.  While still hot, blend (I use a stick blender, but a conventional blender will give you a smoother soup).  You can serve this soup hot or cold – it’s lovely either way!

Serve with: bread, cheese, a dollop of cream or sour cream…