Description: One of the popular Spanish tapas dish. Simple and quick to cook, yet it gives a nice smell of garlic and herbs. A bit of spiciness from chilli which imbues the oil makes this dish fantastic. This can be served as a side dish or even main along with garlic bread or bruschetta!
Serves: 3
Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

• Courgettes –  chopped, 2 pieces or 400g
• Garlic – chopped, 2 cloves
• Dried red chilli – chopped, 1 piece
• Mushrooms – chopped, 250g
• Extra virgin olive oil – 3 tablespoons
• Salt – 2 dash
• Grounded black pepper – 1 dash of black pepper
• Thyme – according to a personal taste
• Oregano –  according to a personal taste
• Parsley –  according to a personal taste

Method

1. Heat a non-stick frying pan with olive oil, garlic and chilli using low heat for a few minutes. Add the courgettes and mushrooms.
2. Increase the heat to medium, add salt, black pepper and herbs, mix them well then close the lid for a few minutes.
3. Open the lid, and stir them well for a few minutes until the water from the vegetables fully evaporates.

To serve: Salt can be added on top.

Nutritional Values Per Serving

Kcal	Protein	Fat	Carbs	Fibre	Sugars	Salt	Saturated Fat	Vitamin B2	Vitamin B6	Folate
124.9	3.8g	9.9g	8.6g	2.0g	4.9g	0.3g	0.3g	0.5mg	0.3mg	52.9μg
6.2%	7.7%	14.1%	3.3%	6.5%	5.4%	5.0%	1.6%	48.7%	27.8%	26.5%

Nutritional Tips

Courgette is also known as zucchini and it is a summer squash. Courgette is an amazing vegetable, it is suitable for weight loss, diabetic meals as it contains low carbs, is rich in folate, a good source of fibre (contains both soluble and insoluble), and contains almost no fat, sugar or salt. It is super low in calories, less than mushrooms for the same weight. 1 piece of courgette (200g) is only 34 kcal (according to USDA), while one Kinder Bueno chocolate bar (21.5g) contains approximately 120 kcal. I love this creamy chocolate and it’s hard to give it up (same as my husband).

Dietary fibre contributes to delay glucose absorption and help type-2 diabetes (T2DM) (Tabatabai and Li, Clinical Excellence for Nurse Practitioners, 2000 Sep;4(5):272-6). Some studies also show that insoluble fibre may be effective to prevent or reduce the risk of T2DM (Weickert and Pfeiffer, Journal of Nutrition 2008 Mar;138(3):439-42, Kaline et al, Hormone and Metabolic Research, 2007 Sep;39(9):687-93).

Mushrooms are known as a superfood. Not only do they contain almost no fat, sugar or salt but also are a valuable source of dietary fibre, thiamine (Vitamin B1), riboflavin (Vitamin  B2), niacin (Vitamin B3), pyridoxine (Vitamin B6) and folate. Mushrooms also contain some minerals such as potassium, copper, phosphorus and iron with more than 90 per cent water content.

I personally like to include mushrooms or courgettes in my dish because they provide many benefits and they are quite versatile as well as relatively inexpensive. Adding these to dishes can help us feel fuller without boosting calorie content. This Ajillo dish contains superfood, with 2 of your 5 A Day. What a perfect dish!