WHITEHALL, Mich. — Chef Char Morse is back with another delicious recipe to try -- and this week, she's gone into her garden for ingredients! This roasted, stuffed zucchini boats are Italian-inspired and the perfect dinner idea.
Chef Char’s Roasted Zucchini Boats
Zucchini Ingredients
1 super huge zucchini that missed the last picking (about 20 oz. or heavier)
Zucchini Directions:
Wash zucchini under cool water. Remove the stem and blossom ends. Cut zucchini in half, lengthwise. Using a spoon, remove seeds and dig a well into the zucchini with enough room for filling. Spray zucchini lightly with olive oil and salt lightly.
Italian Sausage Ingredients
1 ½ pounds bulk spicy Italian sausage
Italian Sausage Directions
Brown Italian sausage, stir to crumble and drain off fat. Reserve cooked sausage crumbles for filling zucchini boat.
“Leftover Bruschetta Topping”
(I made the tomato mixture for serving on top of toasted French bread for bruschetta but had leftovers of the tomato mixture when I ran out of the toast; therefore, I used the leftover tomato mixture from the bruschetta in this recipe.)
Tomato mixture:
4 cups fresh diced tomatoes
2 cloves garlic, minced fine
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 Tablespoons Balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup fresh basil, cut chiffonade
juice of ½ lemon
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Preheat oven or grill to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, add fresh diced tomatoes, minced garlic, olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice and basil. Mix and add salt and pepper to taste.
Zucchini Boat Ingredients
Use ingredients from above: seeded zucchini, cooked and crumbled Italian sausage, bruschetta topping
4-6 slices or 8 ounces shredded mozzarella cheese
2 Tablespoons shredded Parmesan cheese
Zucchini Boat Directions
Fill the well of the seeded zucchini with crumbled sausage and the diced tomato mixture. Cover stuffed zucchini, sausage and tomatoes with mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle Parmesan cheese over mozzarella cheese. Place zucchini boat in preheated oven on a prepared sheet tray or on a preheated grill over foil. Zucchini boat will take longer the bigger the zucchini and less time for a smaller zucchini. Check on boat every 10 minutes, depending on the size of the zucchini (smaller zucchini might take about 15 minutes and a very large zucchini might take as long as 35 minutes). Look for the cheese to melt and start to slightly bubble and brown. Pierce the zucchini with a fork to see if it is tender. Remove from heat if cheese is melted and vegetable is soft/al dente. Garnish with balsamic reduction and minced basil.
Find more recipes from Chef Char on her Facebook or blog, www.chefcharmore.com.
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