Stuffed Zucchini

Every summer, we plant zucchini.  And every summer, we are up to our eyeballs in zucchini.  Last year, all that we knew to do with it was sliced in pasta sauce, grilled or in zucchini bread.  Being so abundant in Northern California, we figured there had to be more ways to utilize this delicious summer squash.  And there are!  This recipe is best with slightly bigger and fatter zucchini than what you'd find at the grocery store.  Homegrown zucchini that were left to grow a day too long are perfect. If you use smaller ones, you'll probably need more of them.  Or use smaller ones as a side dish.




Ingredients
- 2 or 3 large zucchini
- 1 lb ground beef
- 1/2 cup bread crumbs (I used Italian bread crumbs)
- 1 egg
- s&p to taste
- 1 jar pasta sauce (I used tomato & basil)

1. Preheat oven to 450deg F.  Cut the zucchini in half, the long way.  Using a spoon to scoop out the flesh from the middle. Chop up what you scooped out.

Step 1

2. In a mixing bowl, mix the zucchini flesh, bread crumbs, meat, eggs, and S&P until everything is well mixed.

Step 2

3. Stuff each of the zucchini halves with the meat mixture.  You should have a nice little mound of meat on each half.  Empty the jar of sauce into an oven safe dish.  Place the stuffed zuccini in the dish.  Scoop up some of the sauce and cover the top of the meat mounds.

4. Bake for 15 -20 minutes, or until the zucchini is soft.


The zucchini I used were big enough that I ate 2 halves for dinner.  One half probably would be plenty but I hadn't eaten all day.  And I actually didn't use all of the meat, and there was still a fair amount of sauce left in the pan after baking.  So I made a meat sauce out of them.  Never let good food good to waste!