these are for sure the very last courgettes of the season. therefore it is great that the aromatic tomato and herb filling is an explosion of summer flavor.

i found the recipe years ago in a cookbook of former @cookbook press “die schlank & fit kueche” which means slim and fit kitchen in english. but don´t be afraid, it does not taste at all like a low fat diet as the book title suggests, even though it is a light dish indeed.

courgette al forno is the ideal recipe if your courgettes grew too big too fast or you just have overseen some when they had the perfect size of 15-20 cm. if the courgettes are too small, there will not be enough space to fill in the delicious filling. so let´s go.

for 4:

4 big courgettes
1 clove of garlic
500g tinned tomatoes
50 g anchovies plus 8 additional
1 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
1 tsp chopped thyme
1 tsp chopped rosmarin or oregano
2 lemon

cut the courgettes lengthwise into two halves and remove the kernels with a spoon. pour over some salt on the inner side and set them with the surface down on some kitchen towel. this is to extract the exceeding liquid of the courgettes.

in the meantime heat the olive oil in a frying pan and sauté the chopped garlic. strain the tinned tomatoes to remove the kernels and add to the garlic. bring to a boil and reduce the liquid to the half. chop the anchovies and add to the tomato sauce when ready. season to taste with salt and pepper. but be careful with salt because the anchovies are already very salty.

preheat the oven to 200° C.

wipe out the courgettes. set them on a baking tray and fill each courgette with the tomato sauce. place two anchovies on each filled courgette and put some fresh grounded pepper over it. bake them for about 40 minutes.

once they are ready to serve, sprinkle over the freshly chopped herbs. and serve, if you like, with some lettuce and a lemon wedge each to sprinkle over the juice.

enjoy the last summer flavor!