Marco et les courgettes

Marco had to pay a 300 euro fine for his courgettes - they didn't fit the brand calibrated "proper-sized" by the European Union.

Inspection de fraudes, the huissiers, and the courts were run by him.

Pay, advised the judge. Some of his courgettes are beneath the measurements concocted by european state legislators (who have probably never tasted Marco's courgettes), rejected as though they were meant as sexual objects in a porn shop for deviant people. Now he gives away his small courgettes, since he is not allowed to sell them.

But there are so good! exclaims a client who gathers a whole lot of them, the Italians Via Veneto at Montparnasse make the finest delicacies out of them! You know, in olive oil and small white onions. Taste them, they are better than anything the European Union legislators ever concocted in their pornographic state of hysteria.

A Roman gladiator of our times, Marco is the unique brand of happy paysans who still represent wholesome food and produces some of the best quality fresh legumes offered in Paris. Lutetia would've named him ambassador to the Gaulish tribes.

Summer squashes, as well a winter squashes, are native to the Americas and belong to the family of curcurbita. Archaeologists have traced their origins to Mexico, dating back from 7,000 to 5,500 BC, when they were an integral part of the ancient diet of maize, beans, and squashes.

That pre-Columbian food trio is still the mainstay of the Mexican cuisine and is known today as the "three sisters."

"Ah, je reconnais mes courgettes", Marco says, looking at the digital pictures. With Dede, he's got a show for Broadway. "Et les tomates! Attendez les tomates!" later in the season.

Could anyone but Marco, an Italian gladiator in modern Lutetia, Paris, be producing courgettes known for their fickleness in cold weather and frost and generally grown in Mediterranean climate? Or has the climate changed that some of the best courgettes come from Marco's ferme de Coard, at Marcoussis, 30 miles from Paris?

He's got 20 ha and Thierry, one employé, plus the hard work on the fields each and every day, with his éléve, at 17, following the steps of the master: pulling out the weed, knowing when not to water during the heat wave. He hasn't watered his plants all summer long, and they are better than ever. On market days, Marco drives his truck half an hour into town to the marché Port-Royal on Tuesdays and Saturdays, to place Monge on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays - nearly all year long.

Besides that what makes Marco smile is his rugby association where he trains the kids to get the kicks. While feeding the bellies of the privileged, Marco of Marcousi is gracefully growing the younger generation into fighting stars on the field.

This is the first recipe:

600gr courgettes cut according to your taste ( usually cubes or lamelles)

1 table spoon olive oil in a skillet or sauté pan crush and dice

3 cloves of fresh garlic,

a thumb-sized piece of ginger,

3 small onions or 1 échalotte

add this to to the heating pan, stir for 3 minutes on high heat, then lower the heat. Cover and stir from time... to... time for 10 minutes. Add one squeezed lemon juice, as well as a table spoon of light soy sauce. Pepper, salt and other herbs, if needed. Stir. Add one glass of Sauvignon Jacky Pryce. Let simmer for 20 minutes on low heat. Bon appetit avec du riz basmati et de l'harmonie. PS/ If you ever wanted to make this tastier, add a cube cut into small cubicles, of tofu.