Giant zucchini in your garden? Try this recipe, hollowed out zucchini stuffed with basil pesto, fresh croutons, mozzarella, pine nuts and cherry tomatoes.
You know what happens when you go on vacation, even for a few days, and your garden grows zucchini? Even if it’s just for four days and you’ve picked every visible zucchini you can find just before you leave?
Bats, that’s what. baseball bat.
What the hell? Where did these come from? You’re obviously blind, you tell yourself, they must have been hiding under a leaf. Many leaves. However.
Now you have them, so what to do? Zucchini bread and zucchini pies are obvious choices, and you can also scoop out some of the insides of these mongo zucchini, fill the zucchini shells, and bake them.
That’s exactly what we’ve done here.
This stuffed zucchini recipe is something of a gardener’s paradise. If you grow zucchini, chances are you also grow tomatoes and basil.
We make pesto with our surplus basil and pick cherry tomatoes from our plants all summer long.
The filling for this recipe is simply freshly made croutons and mozzarella cheese tossed with basil pesto, some grated Parmesan, some chopped cherry tomatoes and toasted pine nuts.
A perfect summer garden meal. Enjoy!
Zucchini stuffed with pesto
ingredients
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2 cups diced bread from the day before*
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1 tablespoon butter
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2 tablespoons pine nuts
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1 very large zucchini (about 2 pounds), also known as a baseball bat zucchini
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1/4 cup prepared basil pesto
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1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
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4 ounces fresh mozzarella, diced
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A handful of cherry tomatoes, roughly chopped
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Salt
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*The bread should be a bit dry, so it toasts better. If you don’t have day-old or slightly dry bread, cut fresh bread and place on a baking sheet. Heat in an oven at 200°F for 10 minutes.
method
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Toast croutons:
In a medium-sized skillet, melt butter over medium-medium heat. Add the slightly dried bread cubes, toss to coat at least some of the sides with some butter.
Cook in a single layer, without moving the croutons, until lightly browned on one side, then flip and cook a little more to allow a few more sides to brown a little. Remove from pan and let cool to touch.
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Roast pine nuts:
While the croutons are browning, heat a small skillet on high. Add the pine nuts and cook until they start to brown (don’t walk away, once they start brown they can easily go from brown to burnt!).
When they begin to brown, remove from the pan and place in a small bowl.
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Mix croutons, mozzarella, pesto, parmesan, tomatoes, pine nuts:
Place the croutons and mozzarella in a medium bowl. Season to taste with the pesto. Add the grated parmesan, chopped cherry tomatoes, and toasted pine nuts and toss some more.
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Fill the zucchini boats:
Heat oven to 375°F. Halve the zucchini lengthways. Scoop out the inner flesh with a metal spoon, leaving 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick in the zucchini boats.**
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Bake in the oven:
Place the zucchini boats in a frying pan. Sprinkle the inside of the boats with salt. Fill the boats with the stuffing mixture.
Pour about 1 cup of water into the bottom of the skillet (to keep the zucchini from drying out on the outside), to a depth of about 1/4 inch.
Bake at 375°F for 45 minutes.
**We do not use the hollowed-out zucchini flesh in this recipe. You can easily freeze it for later use with zucchini recipes like zucchini bread, zucchini muffins, or zucchini pie. Or you can shred some of it and mix it with the filling mixture.
Links:
Penne Pasta with Zucchini and Basil Pesto from Kalyn’s Kitchen
Zucchini Pesto Lasagna by The Bojon Gourmet
