NOW we are heading towards autumn there is a so much fruit and veg about that you may want to think about different ways to serve them or how to preserve them to eat later in the year.

If you have a vegetable garden or know someone with an allotment, a common cry is ‘what shall I do with all the courgettes?’ They do crop profusely and have a knack of growing very big when your back is turned. One minute you are admiring the lovely yellow flowers and then before you know it you have a huge marrow on your hands.

As with most vegetables they are best eaten small and fresh and these are difficult to get hold of. This marinated courgette recipe has become my top all-time favourite ‘solution’ to the annual glut of courgette! It is made with lots of fresh dill – a lovely herb to grow with a mildly aniseed flavour. It is a pretty plant as well, with feathery leaves and yellow seed heads that look just at home in a vase or bunch of flowers.

This dish is made in less than 10 minutes so it is a win-win summer recipe for me. Just take care: This is not a preserve as the courgettes are only marinated and won’t keep for long. You only need to leave them for an hour or so before eating.

Preserving excess fruit and vegetables has been done over the centuries, especially when food was scarce and the summer harvest needed to be kept for winter eating. I think it is becoming more popular and it is lovely thing to do when you have some time.

I love squirreling away jams, jellies and pickles and enjoying them later in the year. So far this year I have made redcurrant jelly and raspberry jam. I will have to get my skates on as I want to make some spicy piccalilli, chilli jam and beetroot and ginger chutney. I’m planning to give some as Christmas presents but on the other hand I may be tempted to keep them all for myself!

If you want to give preserving a go, chutney is one of the most straightforward to do, so a good one to start with. It can be made with almost any combination of fruit or vegetables and it always contains something acid (like vinegar) and something sweet (usually sugar).

Popular chutneys are those made with apples, beetroot, tomatoes, rhubarb etc. all fruits and vegetables that you often have a lot of. Some chutneys are sweet and mild and others can be spicy and hot. Traditionally chutneys are served with cold meats but I like to add the spicy ones to add to curries and stir fry’s to give them a bit of ‘zip’ .

This recipe is one of my mother’s which she has been making for years and, of course, has become a family favourite. I seem to remember eating a lot of cheese and chutney sandwiches when we were young and they were a picnic staple. They were much nicer made with mum’s pickle rather than Branston pickle.

Marinated courgette with fresh dill

n INGREDIENTS

2/3 Small courgettes

50ml rice wine vinegar (use mild, white wine vinegar if you don’t have the rice vinegar)

Water.

About 1 teasp. Sugar.

Fresh dill

Sea salt and freshly-ground black pepper.

n METHOD

Using a ‘T’ vegetable peeler remove long, fine ribbons along the length of the courgette. Move around in quarter turns and then discard the middle bit. If you have to use an older courgette I would remove half of the peel as it will be tough.

Put the vinegar in a small pan with 3 tbsp water. Add some of the sugar. Briefly simmer and then leave to cool. Taste – it shouldn’t be too sweet or too vinegary. Finely chop the dill – you can do it with the stalks unless they are tough. In this case you can take off the feathery bits and just use these.

Put the courgette, vinegar mix and dill in a small bowl and mix together. Leave for an hour and then drain before eating.

Spiced plum chutney (recipe by Grace Mulligan)

With any preserve made with stone fruits it is always a messy business removing the stones – this method of freezing the fruit beforehand works well.

n INGREDIENTS

1.5kg ripe plums (Victoria are the best for flavour)

500g onions

500g baking apple

500g sultanas

250g sugar (put in 200g first)

1 teasp ground cinnamon

1 teasp allspice

1 teasp ground ginger

25g salt

Pinch of cayenne pepper

1 litre malt vinegar

n METHOD

Put the plums in the freezer overnight. Leave them to defrost when you want to use them. They will be very soft and the stones will come out easily. Discard the stones.

Peel and chop the onions small. Peel, core and chop the apples small.

Put all the ingredients in a pan – it is best to use a stainless steel jam pan but if you don’t have one you can use a heavy pan with care. You will need to have a wooden spoon with a ‘corner’ on it to get into the edge between the side and base of the pan where it could accumulate.

A jam pan has gently sloping sides. It is a good investment if you want to make lots of preserves – I have seen lots for sale in charity shops so it’s worth taking a look around them!

Only put in 200g of the sugar to start with – you can add a little more later if it is not sweet enough for your taste.

Simmer until the consistency is as soft or as firm as you want – if you draw a wooden spoon across the mixture it shouldn’t fill in straight away.

Keep stirring all the time especially towards the end of cooking. Pour into warm, sterilised jars with a vinegar proof lid.