By Pat Anderson
I’m sure most people who have grown zucchini have had the experience of finding the zucchini they missed… which has grown to a massive size, is seedy, and too big to be used in the normal way. What do you do? Here’s what I did:
Serves 4
Ingredients:
1 massive overgrown zucchini… this one was 2 pounds 5 ounces. Failing that, use 4 6″ zucchini.
1 small onion
2 cloves garlic
1 oz (by weight) grated romano cheese
One large roma tomato, seeded & diced
1 cup cooked arborio rice
¼ fennel bulb
Handful of flat parsley, chopped coarsely
1 tbsp olive oil
½ lb shrimp
1 pinch hot pepper flakes
Panko bread crumbs
Instructions:
Cut zucchini in half lengthwise. Scoop out pulp and seeds, leaving ¼ in. shells. Place shells on a plate, cut side down. Cover and microwave on high for 3-5 minutes, depending on the size of the zucchini. Fill the zucchini halves with the following mixture:
Heat olive oil, add garlic, onions, fennel, and cook until onion is starting to become translucent. Add chopped shrimp and diced tomato, continue cooking until shrimp is just turning pink. Remove from heat, transfer mixture to a bowl. Add 1 cup of cooked rice, coarsely chopped parsley and about 1 oz of grated cheese.
If you have a baguette pan, it’s perfect for holding the two halves of a big zucchini.
Mix, fill the zucchini halves, top the mixture with panko crumbs, put in 375 oven 20-30 minutes until breadcrumbs start to brown.
Contributed by: Pat Anderson, Digiteyes, the Epiglutton
Nat’s Note: I’d pair a zesty, herbal sauvignon with Pat’s delicious stuffed zucchini recipe. Try Kim Crawford or Momo from New Zealand.
