Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Zucchini Boats or Stuffed Zucchini

I love summertime with all its fresh vegetables. We don't currently have a garden, I wasn't that ambitious because my son was born in March. (Yes I also live in an apartment, but there are community garden plots that we could have paid to rent one for the season.) That said, we still have friends who have them. We were invited over for dinner by one such couple and after feeding us gave us zucchini and cilantro. (At the same time I found out that some people in my husband's department on campus had offered him zucchini and he'd passed on... but then he doesn't really like gourds - I do however so I was grateful for the zucchini.)
I wanted to try new and different things with it... usually I just cook it in butter or do something totally unhealthy and dip it in egg and flour and fry it. Both of which are yummy ways to eat zucchini.
So the night before I made these we had spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, so I used the left over meatballs and spaghetti sauce to stuff them. However, since I doubt you all will have leftover meatballs to work with, I will post the recipe from scratch (so I apologize but there won't be pictures of of making the hamburger mixture). I am going to have to make these meatballs sometime soon, they are WAY too good for you not to have the recipe. This recipe makes 2 servings and uses one zucchini. If you double the recipe, use 1 egg instead of 2 egg yolks.
We ate these with watermelon, and it was a wonderful meal!

Zucchini Boats

Cut one zucchini in half lengthwise.
Scoop out the seeds to leave a well inside the zucchini.
Brush with 1 tsp olive oil per half and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place on baking pan, and broil for 10-12 minutes, or until tender. Remove from oven.

While the zucchini is broiling, combine:
1/2 cup or 1/4 lb hamburger
1/8 cup diced onion
1.5 tbsp bread crumbs (I use Italian seasoned)
1 tbsp milk
1 egg yolk
1/4 tsp salt
dash pepper

In a skillet over medium heat, cook the hamburger mixture until browned. Add 1/4 cup spaghetti or marinara sauce (If you don't have spaghetti sauce, use crushed tomatoes with Italian Seasoning).

Divide the hamburger mixture evenly between the two halves of the zucchini. Top with 1/8 cup Parmesan Cheese. Place stuffed zucchinis under broiler to melt cheese.
Enjoy!

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1 comment:

  1. I wish I'd known about this about six months ago. Remind me next May...

    ReplyDelete

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