Among my favorite ways of preparing zuchini is below. Lindy Herman, CSA member sent these photos and preparation tips. It’s similar to mine. She stuffed it with Trader Joe’s multigrain blend (couscous, quinoa, etc.), and added garlic, parsley, browned onions and parmesan cheese. She then topped it with a breadcrumb and parmesan cheese topping for the last 10 minutes. She didn’t specify how long she cooked the beast; but it’s somewhat unhelpful even if she’d said, because though each large share today received a large zuch, everyone’s is a different size. That’s one thing about a small farm like ours, we don’t grow enough of something like this to set up a uniformity line. Anyway, we cooked ours for about 45 minutes at 350, which you can use as a guideline. I couldn’t tell if she cut up any of the zuchini before baking. That’s what I do; I scoop out maybe half of the “meat” of each halved zuch, and cube, combine with mixture and then stuff back into the zuchini before baking.
Here’s one of my family favorite recipes if you’d like to include meat:
1. cook up a pound of ground hamburger, ground turkey, or a soy substitute.
2. Add several cloves of garlic and a half of an onion, and fry those up, too.
3. Toss in a little green pepper, perhaps a half cup of chopped walnuts, and grated hard cheese like parmesan.
4. You can either use a purchased bread crumb mix, or make your own like I do. I originally started making my own bread crumbs because I object to the added preservatives and chemicals in most brands at the store. Really, buying bread crumbs is highway robbery, a whole can of bread crumbs is probably 4 or 5 pieces of toast. And by making your own, you can choose the bread you prefer, know that you aren’t eating preservatives (check the label…almost all brands have preservatives!), and choose the amount of salt and herbs that’s best for you. I Cuisinart my favorite toast for fine grain and just hand crumble said toast for larger “crouton” type pieces. It’s not a bad idea to do both for this recipe.
5. I add celery if I have it, a little of Temecula Olive Oil’s oil; and a dash of hot sauce.
6. Toss everything back into your zuch halves and save what doesn’t fit for another night’s meal. There’s always too much to put back into the zuch, so I freeze what’s left and use it for a quick-to-prepare meal when I need it most.
Thanks, Lindy!!