Autumn

With autumn officially here, we crave comforting warm meals ~ a welcome change from the cold suppers of summer.  My neighbours gave us a HUGE zucchini and as my children aren't crazy for that vegetable, I decided to "doctor it up" a little :)

My version of stuffed zucchini started with cutting it up into 4 large "boats".  I removed the bottom of each "boat" so that each piece (when stuffed) would sit nicely in the pan and not tip over.  Because the zucchini was large and a bit overgrown, I chose to pre-boil the "boats" to soften and pre-cook them a bit.  2 mins in boiling salted water was all that was needed.  Then I placed them into a greased pan.  

While the zucchini was blanching, I tore up lots of whole wheat bread crumbs into a bowl (about half a loaf) to which I added loads of garden herbs (oregano, basil, thyme, parsley), garden tomatoes, chopped onion, sea salt, pepper, grated cheddar cheese, parmesan cheese and melted butter.  No specific quantities - add variations of this list/what's in your garden and mix well until it's moist and thoroughly combined.  It should look roughly like the picture below.

Distribute the stuffing into the "boats" and then pour a little bit of tomato sauce on top.  Sprinkle a bit more cheese on top of that - I used cheddar.

Bake at 350F for about 30-45 minutes - or until it looks like this and the zucchini (when tested with a fork) is tender and yields to the slightest pressure.  

Sit back and watch it disappear faster than cookies :)

* Freezer organization is halfway done... yeah!