Stuffed Zucchini

Stuffed Zucchini ala Kayotic Kitchen

I first fell in love with the Kayotic Kitchen blog back in November of 2010 when my daughter Remy, (a fantastic food-making girl), came across this recipe and made it for dinner. What a combination of flavors! Kay, who is Dutch, lives in Holland and is the author of the Kayotic Kitchen blog, seems to have a real knack of combining the perfect ingredients, tho not always what you'd think would be combined, to come up with a dish that you simply can't stop eating! Her stuffed zucchini is certainly all that! When Remy made this, she made half with the optional bacon ingredient (our American bacon bits) and half without. Though we both really liked the stuffed zucchini with bacon, (hubs George much preferred it), we liked the non-bacon version better. (Possibly if we'd used the same kind of Dutch-bought bacon that Kay used, we would have liked that bacon version better.) Though from the comments I gather that many folks have changed her recipe to this that and the other, this is one recipe that we pretty much (a pinch more salt, a dash more pepper, a little more sour cream) stick to the same ingredients in Kay's recipe. Why mess with perfection? (Oh, and do treat yourself to visiting her Stuffed Zucchini blog post - her step-by-step photos are MUCH better and more complete than my one measly photo!)

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The T'nG (and [mostly] in Kay's words): 

1 T. sour cream (heaping)

1/4 - 1/2 t. salt (Wow! Kay's a T'nG cook as well!)

1/4 t. curry powder (man does this send flavors over the top!)

1/2 fresh tomato [dead winter here so I used 1/2 can petit diced tomatoes - summer only fresh tomatoes!]

1 t. dry thyme

2 zucchinis

1 small onion

1 T. oil or butter

parmesan/romano cheese

pepper

Optional: bacon

Preheat oven to 400º F. Give the zucchini a good scrub. Slice them in half length-wise and don't bother to trim the ends. I kinda like how rustic it makes them look. Spoon out the guts, leaving about 1/2" on both ends, until you end up with boat-like shells. (Be careful you don't dig too deep and split the zucchini in two.) Now give the zucchini pulp a good chop, and while you're at it chop up your onion and tomato - be sure to seed and then drain the tomato of liquid so your stuffed zucchini isn't too watery. Saute the onion in oil/butter until it's becoming brown. When the onion is almost done, add the curry powder and cook for an additional 30 seconds - no longer or the curry powder will turn bitter. When they're done, transfer to a big bowl. 

Now this is completely optional. If you want to stick with a vegetable dish, fine, just leave the bacon out. [Kay writes] I personally like the crunch and saltiness it gives, so I cook a few slices and let them drain on a paper towel.  

Now (in no particular order), add the thyme, salt, sour cream, a good pinch of pepper, the zucchini pulp, the tomato and crumble in the bacon as well. Mix well.

Lightly butter a baking dish and put the zucchini boats on it. Grab a spoon and fill the shells with the mixture. Sprinkle some cheese on top. Place in the preheated oven and give them about 20 minutes. Then turn on the broiler element and broil until the top is golden brown. Sprinkle some coarsely chopped parsley (the most underrated herb there is [I agree!!]) on top and you're done! 

They're best served straight out of the oven, so make what you'll eat!

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YUM!

'till we feast again!

xoabb