Yes, I know that it is the middle of winter – at least in the northern hemisphere – but isn’t this the time when your taste memory starts longing for summer’s bounty and richness?  I know that mine does.

Spending most of our life living in a fairly barren semi-tropical environment where almost everything that we eat is imported and, by default, never picked/harvested locally at optimum taste except the starchy items, such as tannia, cassava, breadfruit, plantain and sweet potatoes, which don’t perish particularly fast.  This means that when we are at Les Terraces I fall gluttonishly (is there such a word??) on the heaps of wonderful fresh fruit and vegetables that are available every Saturday in Sainte-Foy’s weekly market.

The bounty is almost indescribable: heirloom tomatoes, fresh berries, plums (I love the tiny golden Mirabelles), raspberries (excuse me while I dribble), strawberries that you can smell from 10 paces, long, slender leeks, wonderful green clouds of lettuces: sucré, frisé, maché to name but a few.  Stop!!!! I can feel the excess pounds clinging joyfully to my hips!

This (last) summer I was given a big tub of fromage blanc – a product I had never used before – and some crème fraîche.  I couldn’t bear to throw them away: it goes hard against the grain to do that to good food,  so I tried to work out how best to use them. As non-dessert eaters we’re normally pretty challenged by using ingredients like this but, I figured, there had to be a way.

Inspiration was found in a last-minute invitation to friends for a mid-week working lunch.  Robin had dropped by to do some last-minute repairs before new guests arrived so, naturally, Trudi was invited too.  I had lunch fixings for 2, not 4.  There was some day-old pain (that no self-respecting Frenchman would touch, but we would), some jambon de Paris (Graham’s favourite), some Entremot doux (a Jarlsberg-style cheese), 2 courgettes, the aforementioned fromage blanc and crème fraîche, and the fixings for pastry.

There wasn’t enough for a quiche, and I hadn’t the time as the invitation was rather impromptu, so I made some pastry, rolled it out, par-baked it, covered it with a mix of fromage blanc & crème fraîche (about 50/50 to make a thick sauce) and then topped it with a couple of thinly sliced courgettes that had been tumbled with seasonings & olive oil.  The whole lot was sprinkled with grated Parmesan and then baked until the courgettes were just cooked.

I relished the flavours and was delighted when Robin & Trudi did too (Graham wouldn’t touch it, but that was his loss, not ours).  It was a dish that we recreated a couple  of times last summer, and my head is brimming with modifications to it.

Tarte aux Courgettes

1/2 lb pastry (savoury, not sweet) or 1 ready-made piece, rolled to 0.25 thick
2 long slender courgettes (zucchini) sliced into 2mm thick discs
10z crème fraîche, or sour cream
1oz fromage blanc (cream cheese thinned with a little milk or plain yoghurt might work as a substitute)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp herbes de Provence
1 tsp olive oil
2 tbsp grated Parmesan (plus more to top if you like)
salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to med-high heat (forgive me for not being specific)

1. Roll out pastry to 0.25 cm thick and lay on a parchment paper-covered baking sheet
2. Par-bake pastry for about 5 minutes (you’re looking for a light seal on the pastry, no more)
3. Mix crème fraîche & fromage blanc and spread on the par-baked pastry
4. Tumble sliced courgette slices with seasonings, Parmesan and olive oil & lay overlapping on the fromage blanc mix in concentric cirlces.
5. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan and bake for a further 15 minutes, or until the courgette slices are lightly browned.
6. Slide onto a chopping board and slice with a pizza wheel.

Bon appétit!