#bxllockdown Day 4

I have decided to bring in the big guns… Stuffed zucchinis (or is it courgettes?)

I have grown up calling it a zucchini back home in Oz, but in my adopted country, Belgium, we call them courgettes. It doesn’t matter what we choose to call them, they are delicious and very versatile. I have a few recipes that the family enjoy but this one is by far their favourite.

I’m going to call them courgettes from this point on.

Courgettes can also be called a marrow, but this is usually a fully grown one. We use courgettes in savoury dishes, we have come to use it as vegetable just like we do tomatoes, but in fact a courgette is a botanical fruit.  It is of the squash family and has its ancestry in the Americas. Once it arrived in Europe, Italians started developing varieties of the courgette and that is how it become a household ingredient in Europe.

Today’s recipe is a traditional Turkish dish, that has been adapted somehow to my taste. The sauce is something I serve it with but in the traditional version it is served with 1/2 tomato paste, 1/2 boiling water with 1/4 cup sunflower/olive oil mix. I prefer my version, as it adds texture and is less oily. The oil is the 1tbs to cook the onions and the natural oil of the meat* that seeps into the sauce as it cooks. * I have also made this with Vegan mince meat and it works very well. Highly recommend it.

I also keep the inside of the courgettes, blitz them and add them to the sauce. Nothing goes to waste.

Another thing to do with leftover stuffing is to make small veggie-balls. You can add some herbs (dill, parsley etc) a bit of crushed feta and an egg to bind it all together. Then make them into balls and fry them lightly in sunflower oil. You can use the sauce in this recipe like a dipping sauce or cook them together for 10-15 minutes and serve with pasta on another day.

My kids, my harshest critics, really enjoy courgettes, especially when it is cooked this way. You can use the stuffing for bell peppers and tomatoes if you have too much stuffing left.

Hope you will enjoy this recipe.

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What you need:

For the stuffing:

• 6 medium size Courgettes
• 200gr minced veal – OR vegan mince meat
• 200gr minced beef — OR vegan mince meat
• 1 medium onions, grated
• 1 bunch flat leaf parsley
• Few stems of dill
• 1/4 cup of rice (risotto rice works best)
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tbsp sweet red pepper paste (if you can’t find this just double the tomato paste)
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1tsp chilli powder
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• salt & pepper to season

For the sauce:

• 3 medium tomatoes, blitzed
• 1 clove of garlic, grated
• 1 medium onion, grated
• Insides of the courgettes, blitzed
• 1 tsp chilli flakes
• 1 tsp sweet chilli powder
• 1 tsp sugar
• salt & pepper to season
• 1 tsp olive oil

What you do:

For the stuffing:

1. Mix the meat, parsley, dill, grated onions, pastes, rice, lemon juice and the spices all until all combined and set aside
2. Cut the heads of the courgettes
3. Then cut each courgette into 5-6 cm chunks
4. Using a melon baller (or a coffee spoon) carve out the inside of the courgettes but be sure not to go through the bottom. And don’t discard the insides as you can use it for the sauce or to make veggie-balls later
5. Once all the courgettes are hollowed out, stuff them with the mix you made earlier
6. Leave about 1/2 cm on top to allow for the meat to expand while cooking
7. Set them side by side until you have made the sauce

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For the sauce:

1. Add 1 tbs olive oil, garlic, onion and salt & pepper to a large pot (big enough to house all the stuffed courgettes) cook until the onion is translucent
2. Add the chilli flakes and the sweet paprika and give it a good mix
3. Now add the tomatoes and mix again. Cook for a 5-10 minutes
4. Then add the courgette mix and let it cook for a few minutes
5. Place the stuffed courgettes in the pot one by one, spooning some of the sauce over each one and close the lid
6. Cook on medium heat for about 30-35 mins
7. Serve with rice or chunky slices of rustic bread

Once cooked place 2-3 courgettes on a plate and spoon out a couple of spoons of the sauce to serve. The sauce will have absourbed all the juices and the flavour of the courgette and the stuffing.

A good accompaniment to this dish is Turkish Rice (recipe: https://cuizzine.wordpress.com/?s=rice&submit=Search) or yogurt.

Enjoy!