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RECIPE

Stuffed Courgettes

They say Summer is over but I am stubbornly holding on!

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AS LONG AS THERE IS ZUCCHINI FROM MY FARMER, IT IS SUMMER IN MY KITCHEN!

Courgettes are of the zucchini family. Their round shape make for fantastic stuffing material. It is a wonderful way to layee flavors into the vegetable. You can stuff it with anything you want from meat to grains to pasta. I find that the best flavor comes from using the scooped out flesh in the stuffing and putting it back into the courgette.

We start with slicing the tops of the courgettes, scooping out the centers and using it in a simple ground meat stuffing.

WHAT YOU NEED 4 courgettes or globe zucchini 1/2 lb ground beef 1 onion, diced fine 3 cloves of garlic, minced 2 medium tomatoes, diced 1/3 cup chopped cilantro or parsley 1 tsp sriracha 3/4 cup stock or water salt and pepper and oil as needed

Heat a heavy bottomed pan, large enough to hold all the courgettes with oil and sauté onions and garlic until soft on low. As the onions cook, cut the head off each courgette (at about 1/8 from the stalk), to create a cap. Reserve the cap. Cut as little as needed to scoop out the innards but not too much to waste the flesh on the cap side. You don't eat the cap in this recipe. Scoop out the insides to form squash cups and reserve. Chop the insides finely. When the onion and garlic is cooked, add the meat and brown all over. Add the insides of the squash and the sriracha sauce and cook for about 10 minutes, till the meat is cooked through. Leave the pan on the stove and using a spoon, fill each prepared courgettes with the meat sauce up to the lip. Add the tomatoes to the remaining sauce and place stuffed courgettes into the pan in one layer. Cover each courgette with its cap. Add the stock or water. Close the pan with a lid and cook for about 15 minutes on medium heat. Open the lid and if the sauce is too thin, cooked on high without lid to reduce liquid. Serve immediately as is or over cooked grain or pasta (optional).

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Stuffed + Cooked

In Sauce

ASHA

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