Stuffed, Baked Zucchini with Rice, Tomato & Olives

Use those lager zucchini for this nourishing one-pan dish, perfect served hot straight from the oven or room temp for those warmer days.

This is such a fun way to prepare zucchini, especially those large ones, which give you a nice size centre to fill up once scooped out. We love this for an easy one-pan dinner and perfect to have in the fridge the next day or two. You can serve these room temp, for a grazing style lunch or dinner.

Two ways I love to serve these. One, as an Italian vibe some parmesan grated over or even a little grated mozzarella scattered once they have finished cooking and back in the oven to melt that over, a little scattering of fresh basil.

The other way is as part of a Middle Eastern inspired meal with some yoghurt or tahini sauce and alongside some hummus, babaganosh, tabouli, falafel or some grilled meats.

I grew up making a version of these with my Lebanese neighbour using Grey Zucchini, we grew in the garden. We would use a special tool to hollow them out and stuff them whole, simmering them in a really simple tomato broth until tender. I would eat them cold, straight from the fridge over the next few days. sometimes with a little yoghurt.

This recipe can be pimped up further with a mince added to the rice filling. About 200g of a beef, lamb or chicken mince cooked off with the onion then proceed with the recipe.

Zucchini - You can also use grey zucchini, which tend to be shorter and wider, made for stuffing. I f using grey zucchini, I would keep them whole as they are a shorter variety. Zucchini work best, but you can also use this filling to stuff blanched white cabbage leaves, rolled up like spring rolls then baked in the same tomato sauce. For this would blanch big pieces of cabbage leaves with the core removed in som lightly salted boiling water for 2 minutes, refresh in cold water, drain well then fill and roll up.

Canned cherry tomatoes - use a chopped tomato or passata as a sub for these. You can also use tomato paste and water or vegetable stock as a substitute. I would use approx. 1/4 cup tomato paste and 400ml liquid, mixed to together first then proceed with the recipe.

Stuffed, Baked Zucchini with Rice, Tomato & Olives

Ingredients

5 large, thick zucchinis, straight as possible