Courgette Salad & Baba Ghanoush

4 courgettes (zucchini)
2 medium tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 spring onions, finely chopped
1/2 red pepper, finely chopped
salt and pepper
juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tablespoons olive oil

Trim the stalk ends and then blanch the courgettes in boiling water for approximately five minutes. Remove from the heat and refresh in cold water. When cool enough to handle, slice lengthwise and, with a teaspoon, scoop out the pulp in the cente and discard.

Finely chop the tomatoes and mix with the remaining ingredients. Spoon into the courgette halves. Serve at room temperature.

Baba Ghanoush

1 medium eggplant
2 tablespoons tahini (sesame paste)
3 tablespoons plain yoghurt
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 or 2 cloves garlic
salt and freshly ground pepper
chilli powder

Preheat the oven to 200C. Prick the eggplant in one or two places (to prevent it from exploding, which can be quite spectacular - and messy). Place in a dish in the oven and bake for about 25 minutes until soft. When it is cool enough to handle, peel off the skin. It should come off quite easily - start it by pushing a sharp knife just under the skin and pull the skin off in strips. Cut off the stalk end.

Place everything but the chilli powder in a blender. Whizz till smooth then turn out into a serving bowl and sprinkle with a little chilli powder.