Courgette Guacamole & Simple Tomato Salsa

I don’t really ever buy avocados anymore… This is partly because I have so much tasty fruit and veg on the farm that I never really bother to buy fresh produce these days… But also because they come from so far away, and they are often so very disappointing.

Having said that, I have wonderful memories of huge and delicious avocados on my travels in Kenya - and stupid amounts of guacamole on an eating-focused holiday in Mexico. I miss guacamole and have tried recipes for numerous locally grown alternatives - peas, broad beans etc. Some of the alternatives are delicious, but they aren’t like guacamole… But this week I think I found a winner!

Courgette guacamole. Sounds terrible - turns out it’s lovely.

I was actually experimenting with recipes for courgette houmous and was amazed at the smooth creamy texture of blended, boiled courgettes. I figured it would be a good base for a courgette guacamole so replaced the avocado in my standard guac recipe with the blitzed cooked courgettes and it was fantastic. (I then searched for courgette guacamole online and found I was far from the first person to think of this!)

Try it you might be as surprised as I was. And I’ve thrown in a super simple tomato salsa recipe because it is that time of year!

For the guacamole:

4 small/medium courgettes
1/2 clove of garlic, grated
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper
squeeze of lemon juice
1/4 small red onion, very finely chopped
3-4 cherry tomatoes, finely chopped

1) Wash the courgettes and cut of the stalk. Put whole into a pan of boiling, salted water and boil for around 10 minutes until they are soft.
2) While they cook you could make your salsa (see below)
3) Test the courgettes with a sharp knife to make sure they are soft and then remove from the water, put in a colander or sieve and squash them down really firmly with a snugly fitting plate. You want to get as much water out of them as possible. I leave them in the sieve to cool down a bit, squishing them occassionally, while finishing the salsa.
4) Once cool, put the courgettes in a blender with the grated garlic, oil olive, salt and pepper and lemon juice. Blitz until you have a smooth paste.
5) Add the chopped onion and chopped tomatoes and stir. Taste again and add more salt, pepper or lemon juice as required.

For the tomato salsa:

A handful of ripe tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cloves of garlic grated
1 teaspoon olive oil
salt and pepper
squeeze of lime juice
fresh chilli, chopped (or chilli flakes), optional
coriander, chopped, optional

1) Combine everything in a bowl and then taste. Add more salt, pepper, or lime juice as required. Garnish with more coriander if using.

2) Serve the salsa and guacamole with tortilla chips and a cold beer!