STUFFED ZUCCHINI

Yesterday afternoon Mark called me to say that our friend Jack called him to suggest that we go out for dinner.  Jack is in law school and now that it is his holiday break he actually has time to come up for air and go out and do things and see people.  "Why don't I MAKE dinner," I suggested to Mark.  Mark thought Jack would enjoy that very much.  He rarely gets a nice home cooked meal.

And so I set out to create a menu.  I had seen a recipe over on Wednesday Chef for pork chops with a sauce of apple cider which was flavored with garlic, rosemary and capers that I had been wanting to try and so I thought this would be a good time to do so.  So what to do for a side?

I buy all these food magazines as soon as they hit the stand, leaf through them and then never refer back to them.  So I decided to take a look at some to get some ideas.  The recipe I chose came from (ok, please don't think less of me) Rachael Ray's new magazine.  YES I bought it.  I know lots of people have very strong opinions about RayRay, but I sort of love her.  I mean she IS totally annoying but I also find her sort of fascinating, tragic.  I'm convinced she's bi-polar or manic depressive or something, although less so now that she's landed herself a husband.  In older episodes she talks about how certain dishes she makes cheer her up when she's feeling blue and you can just see the pain in her face, the way the fake smile she's plastered across her cheeks slowly fades as the music comes up the the show goes to commercial.  You just know she's a cutter.

Anyway, in the magazine I found a recipe for stuffed zucchini that looked interesting.  I made a quick trip to Trader Joes and Pavilions and then headed down to Mark's apartment to make he and Jack dinner.

First, as always, I gathered and prepped my ingredients.

INGREDIENTS
For the stuffing
6 smallish (5 inches or so) zucchini
extra virgin olive oil
1 link sweet Italian sausage (This is something I added that's not in the original recipe.  I happened to have 1 extra sausage in my fridge left over from making my Sausage Gruyere Strata for Christmas again.  But since you can't buy just one sausage at the market, unless your market has a really good meat department, you totally don't need to use it, although it did taste really good)
5 garlic cloves, 1 crushed and 4 finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 medium onion, finely chopped
1 (15 ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained and chopped, juice reserved
salt and freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup dry white wine or chicken stock

For the bread crumbs
2 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup bread crumbs (the recipe in the magazine calls for store bought Italian style bread crumbs, but I happened to have some homemade in the freezer.  I prefer the texture of homemade - store bought seems a little too fine and powdery)
1/2 cup grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Pecorino Romano cheese (I used the Parmigiano)
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
10 leaves fresh basil, chopped

METHOD
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Half the zucchini lengthwise and hollow them out with a small spoon.  Place on a baking sheet and drizzle or brush the zucchini with olive oil.  Chop the zucchini centers.

Heat a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Coat the bottom with about 2 tablespoons olive oil.  Add the sausage and cook, stirring until brown about 5 minutes.  The sausage should be crumbled pretty small, not big chunks.  Add the garlic, onion, red pepper flakes, and chopped zucchini.  At this point you want to put the hollowed out zucchini in the oven.  Cook the onion and sausage mixture for 5 more minutes until the onions are soft. 

Next add the chopped tomatoes and the wine or chicken stock to the sausage onion mixture.  Season with salt and pepper and cook for a couple minutes.  Reduce the heat and add the reserved tomato juice to the pan.  Simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated.

Meanwhile, take a second skillet and heat over medium heat.  Add the butter and a little olive oil.  When the butter and oil are hot, add the rest of the chopped garlic and cook for 2 or 3 minutes, then add the bread crumbs.  Stir to coat the crumbs with the butter and olive oil and lightly toast them, about 2 minutes.  Turn off the heat and add the cheese and the parsley.

Remove the zucchini from the oven.  Add the basil and the bread crumbs to the sausage, onion, tomato mixture.  Fill each zucchini with a mound of the stuffing. 

Place back in the oven and bake for 5 or so minutes.

Everything up to combining the bread crumbs with the sausage, onion, tomato mixture could be done in advance, and then right at the last minute you could give them a quick stir together, stuff the zucchini and then bake them.  Otherwise, the bread crumbs will get soggy from being in with the tomatoes.

And there you have it.

Although I over cooked the pork chops (thank God for the sauce), the zucchini were fantastic.  Such a fun and sort of different little side dish.  The addition of the sausage really is kind of great, but like I said, I'm sure you can leave it out.  And speaking of leaving things out, I completely forgot to put the basil in.  How dumb am I?  This is why I usually prep all my ingredients, so I would see a little bowl of shredded basil and know that at SOME point I have to put it in.  I have to say I didn't miss it, but I can see that the freshness of the basil would be great with the tomatoes and zucchini.  Oh well.  Next time.

Comments

[Luisa]

So glad you enjoyed the sauce (wasn't it the best part of the dish?) with the chops - I could have eaten a bowl of it. Or something. ;)

[Grant]

I did love the sauce. Pork and apples are brilliant together and I loved the addition of the capers. But now I have a big jug of apple cider in my fridge. Any ideas of what to make with it? I was thinking of braising some red cabbage with some carroway seeds.

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