How to prepare courgettes/zucchini?

When they're still young, I grill them --

• trim ends
• cut into planks about 1/4" to 3/8" thick (~1cm)
• toss in olive oil
• sprinkle with salt
• grill over direct heat
• flip when you develop good char marks.
• pull from the grill once the other side is slightly charred.

As they get older, the seed cavity starts developing -- you can cut the sides off, leaving the middle, but it's just not as sweet.

To prepare the vegetable before cooking it, it's advisable to "leach" out some of the bitterness. Even if the eggplant is not particularly bitter, if you are using it in a dish in which you want minimal additional moisture, you'll want to prepare it this way.

Slice your eggplant into discs (of desired thickness), and sprinkle salt over all the slices. Leave them to sit for a while (20-30 minutes?) and then use paper towels to absorb the moisture that comes out.

I will typically stack up the eggplant slices with paper towels in between and place something heavy on top.

You can do nice things with shredded zucchini. Cut in half lengthwise and remove the seeds with a spoon, then shred on a grater or using a vegetable shredder.

From there, you can saute with some shredded onion and a little olive oil (adding a tiny bit of curry powder can really jazz this up).

Or you can make a sort of fritter/pancake. I can't tell you the exact technique, but the idea is to mix some shredded zucchini and finely chopped or shredded onion with a little flour and egg binder, then you can fry them up crispy and golden in a pan. For this one, if the zucchini is really juicy you might want to get some of the juice out first (wrap in a tea towel and wring it, or salt it and put it in a colander to drain).

Depending on their size you can roast and stuff them. We've made a variety of fillings using cooked mushrooms, breadcrumbs, soft cheeses, and herbs (no fixed recipe here, we just try what seems like a good idea).

We usually slice them in half (lengthwise), and carve out the middle. Roast the zuccini on a baking sheet in the over at 400 until it starts to soften up (just a little), and prepare the filling. Add the filling and return to the oven until everything is heated through.

I fry them in olive oil. They respond really well to high heat, browning up nicely. Usually just eat them with garlic and black pepper, but you can use this as a basis for a pasta topping: fry zuchini with onions in olive oil(brown well), add garlic, add tomatoes, mushrooms, reduce and stew briefly, add herbs (marjoram, basil, ...), and finish with artichoke hearts. Toss it on pasta, add some feta or parmesan.

We like to use them in ratatouille; they combine well with things like yellow squash, eggplant, mushrooms, tomatoes, etc and the traditional ratatouille spices.

My mother-in-law's method (if you want to eat them as a salad-type side dish):

1. Boil the whole courgettes for 11 minutes max in lightly salted water.
2. Once they've cooled, chop them into thick slices.
3. Put the sliced courgettes in a colander and leave them to drain for 30 min. or so - quite a lot of water comes off and this means that they stay firm.
4. Just before serving, put them in a dish, season with salt and pepper to taste, sprinkle with white wine vinegar and olive oil.

Serve cold.