This collection of courgette recipes showcases the many different uses of the vegetable. Fabrizio Marino utilises the beautiful colours of courgettes in his Vegetable tempura recipe, serving the vegetable both fried in tempura batter and finely sliced in a 'paper' of raw vegetables for a fantastic vegetarian starter dish. If you are looking to try cooking with courgette flowers try Alessandro Gavagna's colourful starter recipe, where the flowers are sautéd in butter and served with apple and horseradish.

A type of tender summer squash, the courgette as we know it now is believed to have originally developed in Italy. Indeed, its alternative name, zucchini, which is used as standard in America, Australia and parts of Europe comes from the Italian word zucca meaning squash with the 'ini' suffix meaning little – an odd choice given that full sized courgettes (known as marrows) can grow up to a metre long! To this day Italy grows numerous different varieties of courgettes across its many regions, from round, striped and golden varieties to those cultivated specifically to grow larger flowers, a popular delicacy which can be fried (fiori di zucca) or stuffed.