The stuffed courgette is a Roux family favourite. Simple food at its best. My mother-in-law is a passionate gardener, all throughout the year she pampers all her different varieties of fruits and vegetables.

Stuffed courgettes

  • 2 large courgettes
  • 150g sausage meat
  • 150g minced pork loin
  • 50g of grated Parmesan
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 onion
  • 1 leek
  • 1 garlic clove
  • 50g fresh mint
  • 20cl white wine
  • 40cl veal stock
  • Salt, pepper and olive oil

Trim and wash the courgettes before cutting a “hat” lengthwise, in roughly one third of the vegetables. Dig out the centre of the courgettes with the help of a small spoon and keep aside the flesh to add later on in the stuffing.

Cut into small dices the carrot, onion, leek and the “hat” of the courgettes. Stir fry all the vegetables together in a lightly oiled pan with a garlic clove. Blanch the courgettes in heavily salted water for approximately 1 minute. To immediately stop the cooking and preserve the vibrant green colour of the vegetables, strain and put in iced water.

Michel Roux Jr

(Image credit: Credit Unknown)

In a large ball, mix the sausage meat, the minced pork loin and all the diced vegetables cooked earlier on. Roughly chop the fresh mint and add all the final ingredients to the mix. Season generously with salt and pepper before stuffing your courgettes.

Cook the courgettes for about 30 minutes at 175°C in a large baking tray. Once cooked, de-glaze the baking tray with white wine and scrape the bottom to release any browned bits. Let it reduce, until nearly all evaporated before adding the veal stock. Bring to the boil and reduce until the jus has the right consistency. You are ready to tuck in!

More about the wine

The stuffed courgette is a Roux family favourite. Simple food at its best. My mother-in-law is a passionate gardener, all throughout the year she pampers all her different varieties of fruits and vegetables. She never ceases to amaze me, even at her age, through snow and rain she continues to plant the most tasteful and authentic greens.

Her extra-large courgettes are the best. Gorged with sun, they really taste like no other. Combining homely food, exceptional products and a good glass of wine could not bring a bigger smile to my face.

To accompany this provincial family dish, I suggest a fresh rosé full of fruity and floral aromas. The Mirabeau Pure Provence Rosé is a blend of Grenache, Syrah and Cinsault. The Grenache is the dominant grape variety that gives this young wine elegant aromas of small red berries that match perfectly with the robust provincial taste of this dish.

For amateurs of red wine, I propose a real unofficial “grand crus” from the Burgundy region. The Joseph Drouhin Gevrey Chambertin is an intense and fruity wine with heaps of deep, red fruit flavours such a black cherry and wild blackberry with hints of aromatic liquorice. This is a wine with character that can support the pronounced taste of the well-seasoned meat stuffing.

To make this meal even a little more special why not try a fantastic heavy weight white. Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru, Les Chenevottes, has a real tang of pineapple and velvety flavours of guava. With impressive notes of stone fruits.

Michel Roux Jr’s wines to drink

Mirabeau Pure Provence Rosé: A perfect balance with good acidity and depth of flavour to match the provence style of this dish. A heavy weight rose that comes up trumps with the sausage meat. RRP: £12.99 from Waitrose

Joseph Drouhin Gevrey Chambertin: a great Pinot Noir with elegance and lots of unctuous fruit also with a hint of aromatic liquorice; although full of deep flavour, it is light enough to fit perfectly with this comforting dish. RRP: £32.99 from Waitrose

Chassagne-Montrachet 1er Cru, Les Chenevottes: a heavy weight white wine that would normally be associated with fine dining, it simply brings out the best of these simple ingredients. RRP: £39.95 from The Oxford Wine Company

Michel Roux Jr
Michel Roux Jr
Columnist
Michel Roux Jr was born in 1960 in Pembury, Kent, where his father Albert Roux worked as a private chef for the Cazalet family. His earliest food memories are the smells of the Fairlawne kitchen – pastry, sugar caramelizing and stews – where he played under the table while his father and mother Monique prepared the meals. After deciding to follow in his father’s footsteps, he left school at 16 for the first of several challenging apprenticeships at Maître Patissier, Hellegouarche in Paris from 1976 to 1979. He was then Commis de Cuisine at Alain Chapel’s signature restaurant at Mionay near Lyon, Michel’s biggest influence. His military service was spent in the kitchens at the Elysée Palace at the time of Presidents Giscard d’Estaing and François Mitterrand. He also spent time at Boucherie Lamartine and Charcuterie Mothu in Paris, and the Gavers Restaurant in London. After a stint at the Mandarin Hotel in Hong Kong he returned to London and worked at La Tante Claire before joining the family business. He took over running Le Gavroche in 1991, gradually changing the style of cooking to his own – classic French with a lighter, modern twist. Michel opened Roux at Parliament Square in May 2010 with Restaurant Associates, part of the Compass Group UK and Ireland. And in November 2010, he opened Roux at The Landau at London’s prestigious luxury hotel, The Langham. Michel was a judge and presenter on the BBC’s popular prime time show, MasterChef: The Professionals, and presented all series of ‘Great British Food Revival.’  Michel fronted BBC2’s ‘Food and Drink,’ in 2014 and presented a documentary on Escoffier, whose revolutionary approach to fine cuisine has inspired Michel and many others. In the same year, Michel went on a journey to create the perfect chocolate for the Le Gavroche Kitchen.  Filmed by the BBC, in Paris he discovered chocolatiers, Cacao Barry and their Or Noir Lab. In 2013, Michel launched his most recent cookbook, ‘The French Kitchen’.  Focusing on traditional French home cooking, this is the fifth solo cookery book from Michel. He is involved with the Roux Experience courses at the ‘Cactus Kitchens’ cookery school, with the Executive producer of Saturday Kitchen, Amanda Ross. Cactus Kitchens offers people the opportunity to learn to cook within small intimate groups from some of the UK’s finest chefs, on site above the Saturday Kitchen studios. Michel has fronted a brand new four-part Channel 4 series, ‘The Diner’, exploring the hurdles faced by people with disabilities and mental health issues when finding employment. Michel also recently presented a new program on his first ever project with the Disney Channel.  ‘First Class Chefs’ which launched in June 2015, is a show where kids aged 9-11 compete to showcase their restaurant skills.