Courgette Rolls with Cream Cheese

📝 Ingredients

• 1 large courgette (about 300 g)
• 1 red pepper (about 150 g)
• 2 tsp olive oil (1 for the pepper, 1 for the courgette)
• 100 g plain cream cheese, 22% fat
• ½ lemon (zest + 1 tsp juice)
• 15 g fresh basil (about 25 leaves)
• 1 small garlic clove
• Salt, black pepper

🍴 Utensils

• Mandoline or large knife
• Large non-stick frying pan
• Pastry brush
• Fine grater
• Bowl
• Cocktail sticks

📖 Steps

1. Wash the courgette and trim the ends. Slice it lengthways into 3 mm thick strips using a mandoline or a large knife, holding it flat. Keep the 12 best strips (the offcuts can go into a soup or an omelette).
2. Lay the strips out on kitchen paper, salt them lightly and wait 10 min: they release their water and become more pliable, which stops them breaking when you roll them. Then pat them dry carefully.
3. Meanwhile, deseed the pepper and cut it into 12 strips about 1 cm wide. Cook them for 8 to 10 min in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat with 1 tsp oil, stirring, until tender and flecked with brown. Set aside on a plate.
4. Brush the courgette strips on both sides with the rest of the oil. Cook them in the same pan over a medium-high heat, in a single layer and in batches, for 1 to 2 min on each side, until pliable and golden. If overcooked, they tear.
5. Leave the strips to cool flat for 5 min. Meanwhile, in a bowl, mix the cream cheese, lemon zest and the spoonful of lemon juice, the very finely grated garlic, the shredded basil (keep 12 small leaves whole) and some pepper. Taste before adding salt.
6. Lay a courgette strip on the board and spread it with a thin layer of cream cheese (about 1 heaped tsp) along its whole length. Place a basil leaf and a strip of pepper at one end.
7. Roll the strip up tightly starting from the pepper end and secure with a cocktail stick to keep it closed. Repeat with the remaining strips. Serve straight away, or keep in the fridge under cling film for up to 3 hrs.