grilled courgette with parsley, olives & garlic crumbs recipe – My Darling Lemon Thyme (2024)

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It has been an eventful few weeks for our family, and not all in a good way. Si badly hurt his foot kitesurfing 2 weeks ago, and has been off work ever since. The timing couldn’t have been any worse, with us trying to pack up our lives for the big move to Perth, in just a little over 3 weeks! He was in so much pain for the first week and a half after the accident that he barely got off the couch, quickly becoming my “third child”. Now that he’s getting better and is able to walk around without crutches, Ada’s come down with scarlet fever. Choice as. Kye was sick a few weeks back with a chest-cold, so I hope that with Ada’s illness we cancel out the old “bad things come in threes” saying. Enough is enough I reckon, I need to pack!

But before you think this is all just going to be doom and gloom, check out this photo below… the Orca’s (aka “killer whales”) came into the Raglan harbour on Thursday morning, the third time in just over a month. They visited early Christmas morning. We were all eating breakfast when we got the call from my Dad (who lives right at the Raglan Wharf, so is always one of the first to know). We drove around trying to spot them, but somehow we missed them. I’ve heard they also came in around new years eve.

It was such a treat to take Ada down to the wharf (Kye was at childcare) to see them. My Dad and step-brother paddled out to see them on their paddle boards and got the best views of all! I swear, at times they were only metres away from those big black giants. I’m not convinced I would have had the balls to paddle out so close to them, but imagine it would have been such a magical experience if I had. Dad said they were all females, mothers and babies, feasting on stingray and playing around, the mothers showing their young how things are done.

Right, onto the food. In summertime, for us it’s all about garden-fresh ingredients prepared simply. This pretty much sums up today’s recipe. Freshly picked courgette (zucchini), pan fried in olive oil with a little lemon, pitted kalamata olives and parsley topped with golden garlicky gluten-free breadcrumbs for a little added textural excitement. It’s that simple. We like to serve this as part of a meal, usually with a simple green salad, corn on the cob and a tomato and feta omelette. Easy peasy, just the way we like it.

grilled courgette with parsley, olives & garlic crumbs recipe
By all means use regular wheat bread crumbs if you eat wheat, but do try and make your own as the texture is far superior. A crumbling of feta cheese wouldn’t go astray also, if you tolerate. Serves 3-4 as a side.

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1/2 cup (30g) gluten-free breadcrumbs*
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil, extra to cook courgette with
• 3 medium courgette, sliced into thin rounds
• 1/4 cup (50g) pitted kalamata olives, lightly chopped
• a small bunch of flat-leaf parsley (approx 1/4 cup)
• the zest and juice of half a lemon
• freshly ground black pepper

Make the garlic crumbs first by heating first measure of olive oil in a small frying pan. Add the crushed garlic and stir briefly before adding the gluten-free breadcrumbs. Cook, stirring over medium heat, until golden brown and smelling delicious. Season with sea salt and black pepper then turn out into a bowl to cool, wipe out the frying pan and continue…

Heat 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add courgette slices and cook turning once until golden brown on both sides. You may need to do this in two batches. Add the chopped olives, parsley, lemon zest and juice and black pepper, tossing together briefly before turning out onto a serving plate, sprinkle with the garlic crumbs and serve.

* You can buy gluten-free breadcrumbs, but I reckon why bother?! They are super expensive and I just make my own using left over crusts, or old random (usually broken) pieces of gluten-free bread. Simply tear your bread up into smallish pieces (as it is usually way more dense than regular wheat bread), pop into a food processor and pulse until you reach the desired texture. You can then use straight away or store in bags in the freezer, for later use. It defrosts quickly on the bench.