lately on the lottie

There's great excitement chez fenland lottie for we have our first apple harvest.
The little Rosette apple tree, a gift from my sister and brother in law, was planted on our allotment just over a year ago and this year we have about 15 beautiful little apples. They are similar in appearance to a Discovery apple and have the same sweet/sharp flavour.

Delicious! 

Just right for chomping on and a sign, along with the autumn fruiting raspberries that are ripening on the plot, that summer is retreating and autumn is stepping into her shoes.

It's also that time of year when the courgettes are coming thick and fast and trying to keep up with them is nigh on impossible.

By necessity, they begin to appear at every meal and in every guise and I was reminded of a particular week, many years ago, when I was at school and having school dinners.

I didn't normally partake of school dinners, preferring my Mum's homemade sandwiches, which were always made with wholemeal bread - something almost unheard of back in the sixties.

Nowadays, I admire my Mum's forward looking philosophy on food which at the time was very avant garde, but back then how I longed for sandwiches made with white bread and I still remember the thrill, when 

one day, having stayed overnight at a friend's house, I left for school with ham sandwiches made with white sliced Mother's Pride!

But, this particular week, for a reason long forgotten, I was having school dinners. 

Like my courgette glut, the school cooks must have had an over abundance of rhubarb and said fruit had made an appearance in one form or another every day that week until it got to Friday.

Back then, we were seated at tables of 6 for school lunches, with an older child, seated at the head of the table, given the responsibility of serving the food to the others.

We all breathed a sigh of relief to see that the pudding was trifle. 

No rhubarb in sight! 

Until, the older pupil, digging to the bottom of the deep bowl, through the layers of thick, yellow custard and wobbly jelly found a thick, gloopy, pink layer of rhubarb!

I can sympathise with those school cooks and their surplus of rhubarb.
I feel the same about the courgettes.
So this is my latest version of a courgette supper - lightly grilled atop a mound of couscous spiked with harissa paste and lots of herbs.

Happy weekend x