RECIPE TIME

I have decide to post a few recipe ideas on this blog. If for no other reason than it gives Sandra one less reason not to cook when I am away!  The recipes will use locally available ingredients, though I do assume people have a few herbs and spices.

Here is a recipe I make quite often as it is easy, tasty has a good fridge life and can be sent to work with Sandra for lunch or eaten as a main meal in the evening.  Most importantly the ingredients are almost always available and not too expensive.

Stuffed Zucchini/Corgettes

These are the ingredients excluding the oil, spices and herbs.

Olive Oil in a pot.

 Two onions, one half finely chopped, the other one and an half sliced.

 One cup of rice in a pot of water (you will only use about 1/4 of this, the extra is for an accompanyment if you want it).  I use plenty of water and just drain it when the rice is almost cooked.

 Three cloves of garlic finely chopped.

Sweat the onion slices in the olive oil till translucent.

Put the chopped onion in a cup and microwave for 60 seconds to soften it.

 Add half a tin of tomato paste to the onion and the choppen garlic and cook down for about a minute.

 If you cannot find chopped tomatoes use a can of whole tomatoes and chop them up first.  I do it the lazy way in the can!

Add the chopped tomatoes to the onions and add a cup and an half of water. Simmer for 30 minutes or so  while you do the next bit.

 Wash and trim two fairly large zucchinis.

Hollow them out using an apple corer.  The top pictures show the technique of making a centre hole and then shaving away round the inside.  The bottom pictures show three overlapping holes and then a quick internal smoothing!

The six half zucchini pieces

Prepare the herbs and spices

Dried basil 1 tsp
Cried oregano  1 tsp
Dried thyme  1/2 tsp
Bay leaf 2
Chili powder 1/4 tsp (to taste)
Black pepper 1/2 tsp

Add the above to the tomato sauce.


Cumin powder 1/2 tsp
Allspice powder 1/4 tsp
Cinnamon  powder big pinch
Cloves powder big pinch
Black pepper 1/2 tsp

Add these to the ground meat.

Now take about 1/4 kilo of ground beef or lamb and squish it with your hands and kneed it like dough for about 5 minutes.

 You will have a slightly mushy ground meat mix.

 Add the onions from the microwave and about 1/2 cup of cooked rice

 Mix well with a teaspoonful of salt (or less if preferred)

 And stuff into the zucchini

 The stuffed zucchini can be simmered in the pan with the sauce for about an hour until cooked.  Longer will do no harm, just macke the zucchini softer.

Or they can be put in a dish and cooked in the oven at 350F for about an hour, turning occassionally.  If you are worried about them drying out cover with aluminum foil or a lid, or turn the oven down to 250F.

This picture shows the zucchini before they went in the oven.  I forgot to photograph them when they came out, we just ate them!