Marinated Courgettes with Mozzarella

I bought some courgettes reduced at the supermarket, so needed a nice recipe to use them up. I had a flick through the River Cottage Veg Everyday book, and found this one. Really tasty! No-one else here likes courgettes, so I ate it all myself :D Very tasty, will definitely make it again. I didn't have a lemon though, so I used a lime instead, still tasted great so I assume you could use either. I have bookmarked a few more recipes from this book to try, they all sound amazing.

4 medium courgettes (about 500g)
5 tablespoons extra virgin olive or rapeseed oil
1 large clove garlic, finely slivered
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon, plus a little juice
A handful of mint or basil, roughly torn
1 ball of buffalo mozzarella (about 125g), or other mild, soft cheese
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper


Top and tail the courgettes, then cut them lengthways into thin slices, 1–2mm thick. Put them in a bowl with 2 tablespoons of the oil and use a pastry brush to get them all lightly coated.

Heat a large non-stick frying pan over a fairly high heat. Working in batches, sear the courgette slices for about 2 minutes on each side until tender and golden. Transfer them to a shallow dish.

Take the frying pan off the heat and let it cool down a bit. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons oil, the garlic and lemon zest. Heat very gently for a few minutes – the residual heat in the pan may be enough – you just want to take the raw edge off the garlic and infuse the flavours into the oil.
Pour the infused oil over the courgettes. Add some salt and pepper, a little squeeze of lemon juice and the mint or basil. Toss together, cover and leave for 1 hour at room temperature.

Serve with the torn mozzarella scattered over it.