Pain de courgettes

Loretta from Just Bento recommended this recipe for pain de courgettes. It's a French dish (obviously) that I'd never heard of before. A great way to use up an overabundance of courgettes. I couldn't really imagine it would be as wonderful as report has it - courgettes are, after all, fairly tasteless things. It turns out to be a prime example of how a mixture of things can be so much more delicious than any of the ingredients by itself.

So here I have my 3-4 courgettes:

Which I chopped into small dice (couper en petits dés), although I did not peel (peler) them

And here is my two cloves of garlic (gousses d'ail), chopped (haché)

Here is my basil (basilic):

And here is the amount I decided was appropriate, chopped roughly:

Here they are being fried in olive oil (revenir à l'huile d'olive):

With some salt and pepper (sel et poivre):

Good thing I had an extra courgette, …

… because I discovered I had to line the loaf tin with sliced courgette. I decided to make long thin slices with my mandoline …

… and buttered and lined a loaf tin:

Next up was four eggs (oeufs) …

… and  "un petit pot de crème fraîche". Well I had no cream, and no idea how much a small pot was, so I dolloped in about a cup of milk …

… and then beat it vigorously (battre energiquement) …

… before making some breadcrumbs (chapelure) …

… and adding them too. About a handful and a half, it was.

By this time the courgettes had been cooking for 20 - 25 minutes, …

… so I mixed them in with the eggs/milk/breadcrumbs …

… and poured the mixture into the lined loaf tin:

I had some left-over slices of courgette, so I put them on top …

… then baked it at 180°C for 45 minutes or so:

The slices of courgette lining the pan disintegrated a bit …

… but it turned out OK.

This was my lunch:

A slice of pain de courgette and a bread roll I couldn't resist from the supermarket.

The pain de courgette truly is delicious. It's sweet and custardy, and neither the basil nor the garlic is overpowering. They just seem to enhance the flavour of the courgettes. The breadcrumbs only give it some body, you don't taste or feel them at all.