COURGETTE AND POTATO BAKE

Ingredients:

• 200 g courgettes (fresh or frozen)
• 100 g potato
• 250 ml milk
• 50 g organic, unsalted butter
• 200 g flour
• 2 eggs
• Grated cheddar cheese
• 1 tsp baking powder
• Sea salt
• Black pepper
• Nutmeg

Process:

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (gas mark 4).
2. Grate the courgettes and drain them well (If using frozen courgettes, it is easier to chop them finely before squeezing them gently to remove the water).
3. Grate the potato, wash it and leave it to drain or gently squeeze it in the same was as for the courgettes.
4. Place the butter in a small saucepan and melt it gently.
5. Sprinkle in three quarters of the flour and stir constantly.
6. Reduce the heat and cook for a few minutes.
7. Add the milk gradually and stir until it is homogenised with the flour.
8. Add salt (not too much if the cheese is very salty), pepper and ground nutmeg.
9. Cook gently for approximately 5 minutes, until the sauce is creamy.  Stir constantly, to prevent the sauce from sticking to the bottom of the saucepan. (Note: The longer you cook the sauce, the thicker it will get. You can add more milk, if needed).
10. Let the white sauce cool down.
11. In the meantime, separate the egg whites from the yolks and beat them both separately. Beating the egg whites until hard and creamy will give the baked dish a light texture.
12. Mix the white sauce, beaten egg whites, beaten yolks and vegetables together.
13. Add as much grated cheese as you want and the rest of the flour, together with 1 tsp of baking powder.
14. Pour the mixture into a lightly buttered oven dish (or small individual dishes – see photo) and sprinkle some more grated cheese on top – this will give your dish a beautiful golden colour when cooked.
15. Bake for 30 minutes on gas mark 5, until golden.
16. Leave to cool for 10 minutes before serving.