Stuffed Zucchini

I am a fan of pinterest.  I have been getting a lot of ideas from there lately.  I saw this beautiful picture of stuffed zucchini one day and decided that I had to make it.  This was my inspiration, you can click the picture to go to the recipe.

http://www.kayotic.nl/blog/stuffed-zucchini

As I am want to do, I started tweaking it a bit.  The recipe called for bacon, but I thought that sausage would be better (I was right, it rocked).  I was super happy with the results of this experiment.  It was surprisingly creamy.  The zucchini boat was tender but not mushy, and the filling was packed with flavor.  Here is what mine ended up looking like.

I obviously do not have a great camera like the blogger of my inspiration, and hers were so much prettier.  But I know that mine tasted better. :)

Ingredients:

1/2 Pound Sausage

1 Small Onion 

1/2 Carton of Mushrooms

1 Tomato 

2 Zucchini

Salt/Pepper

Parmesan Cheese

1/4 Cup of Bread Crumbs

1 Egg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cook sausage in a skillet until browned.  Move from pan into strainer to remove excess fat.  Leave some of the drippings in the pan.

While the sausage is cooking dice the onion and the mushrooms.  Add the onion to the pan and cook until translucent, then add the mushrooms and continue cooking.  

While the mushrooms and the onions are getting happy, slice your zucchini in half lengthwise.  Use a spoon to scoop out the zucchini, you want about a quarter inch of pulp left in the peel. (Reserve your zucchini "guts" in a bowl.)  This will make a little boat to fill with goodness.  Place zucchini boats on a greased cookie sheet.  If they are wobbly you can use a vegetable peeler and peel off a flat section on the bottom so that they will be stable for filling and baking.  

Add a handful or so of your zucchini guts to the onions and mushrooms.  Dice the tomato, but lose the seeds and the juicy part.  Add the tomato to the mixture and cook about 2 more minutes.  Add the sausage back in and remove everything from the heat.  I didn't include a measurement for the parmesan because it is a matter of personal taste.  I grated a whole lot of in at this point, basically blanketed the mixture with cheese.  Taste the mixture after you add the cheese (everything is fully cooked at this point) and then you can season it more if needed.   Set aside and allow to cool.

Once the mixture has cooled sufficiently, you want it cool enough that the egg won't start cooking when you add it, sprinkle in the bread crumbs and mix to combine.   The mixture should be fairly dry at this point, if it is still wet add more bread crumbs, you want something that will stick together if you balled it up but not something that is runny.  Add in your egg and mix it in well.

Spoon your filling into the zucchini boats, top with a little more cheese :), and then bake in a 400 degree oven for 20 minutes.  Check the zucchini to make sure they are fork tender then serve and enjoy.  

Happy Dining!