Crispy courgettes with creamy pesto beans
Crispy baked courgettes and creamy pesto butter beans provide lovely contrasting flavours and textures in this easy veggie dish. Comforting and indulgent, it's hard to believe this is budget-friendly, so you can roll it out again and again to everyone's delight!
- Preheat the oven to gas 7, 220°C, fan 200°C. Put the beaten eggs, flour and half of the breadcrumbs in separate, shallow bowls. Dunk the courgettes into the flour, then the egg and finally the breadcrumbs until well coated, topping up the breadcrumb bowl as needed (to stop the breadcrumbs clumping). Transfer to 2 lined baking sheets, spacing them out evenly on the trays. Drizzle with 2 tbsp oil, season, then bake for 20 mins until golden brown and crisp.
- Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil in a saucepan over a medium heat and fry the onion for 8 mins. Stir in the garlic and thyme and fry for 1 min or until fragrant. Stir in the beans with their liquid, and the pesto. Season and bubble for 5-10 mins until thickened and creamy. Stir in the crème fraîche, return to a simmer and mash some of the beans into the sauce to create a thicker sauce.
- Stir in the lemon zest and most of the juice, then divide between warmed bowls. Top with the crispy courgettes and squeeze over the remaining lemon juice. Season with black pepper, scatter with the extra thyme leaves, then serve with crusty bread for dunking and lemon wedges for squeezing over.
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