Chargrilled Courgettes with Whipped Feta, Dill & Raisins
Chargrilled courgettes, tangy whipped feta & yogurt served alongside all sorts of lovely toppings of toasted pine nuts, raisons and fragrant dill – THIS is the side of dreams.
Make this when you can get your hands on large courgettes, around late Summer, early Autumn. The larger courgettes tends to hold a lot of water and might lack a bit in flavour, we are fixing this by charring the courgettes directly on the coals which really adds to the smokiness and flavour of this dish.
You can make this with regular sized courgettes too, simply place the grill over the coals, wait for the grill to heat up and add the courgettes to the hot grill, turning regularly, you do want colour on the courgettes.
I love the whipped yogurt and feta sauce which could double up as a good dip too.
More Recipes when the Coals are Hot (& White)
- My Baba Ganoush (here) – you can add the aubergines to the coals (directly) and the courgettes can be on the top grill (pic below).
Chargrilled Courgettes with Whipped Feta, Dill & Raisins
Ingredients
- 6 large courgettes (about 600g)
- 1 cup full fat Greek yogurt
- 1/2 cup feta cheese (1 wedge)
- 15g dill stalks removed, leaves only
- 1 garlic clove minced
- 1 lemon zest and juice to taste
- 1 lime zested
- 1/4 cup pine nuts toasted
- 1/4 cup raisins
- 1/4 cup mint roughly chopped
Instructions
- Boil a kettle and pour the boiling water over the raisons to just cover them, leave them to soak.
- Pile about 40 briquettes (half a medium bag?) into a pyramid. Light the fire using plenty of firelighters, positioned strategically around the briquettes. - making sure you have active flames, it will take about 20 minutes for the briquettes to become white hot coals - THEN we have braai lift-off!
- There are two options here, option 1: if your courgettes are really large, which they tend to be late summer, add the courgettes directly to the coals, turning frequently until charred all over. Option 2: if they are on the smaller/med side, add the grill over the hot coals and add the courgettes to the hot grill, turning frequently. Set aside.
- Scrape the char lightly from the courgettes with a serrated knife, slice the courgettes lengthways into long strips and then in half again - so they are bitesized. Keep aside.
- Make the whipped feta by adding the yogurt, feta, garlic clove and half the dill to a food processor, season with a squeeze of lemon, salt and pepper. Process until smooth and season with more lemon juice and salt and pepper if needed. You really want the the sauce to be flavourful, slightly salty and definitely zingy.
- Finely chop the rest of the dill.
- To plate, spread the yogurt onto a pretty plate, add the zest of 1 lime and 1 lemon. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Now add the courgettes over the yogurt, again season with a drizzle of olive oil, salt & pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice.
- When you are ready to serve add the toasted pine nuts, dill, mint and raisins. ENJOY!
