Greek stuffed zucchini

During my weekly shopping for vegetables in the Strip district market, I sighted cute baby zucchini at the Pennsylvania Macaroni company, my favorite Italian store around here. All I knew was, I had to stuff these with something. I also remembered seeing Clotilde making something out of it. So I bagged four of these little'uns.

Almost 10 days have passed and I could find time for these only today. One of the zucchinis had become really wrinkled and past its prime. So the recipe is with 3 zucchinis.

Cut off the tops of the zucchini and save them for later. Scoop out the zucchini pulp with a teaspoon or melon baller. Season shells with salt and pepper. Spritz surface with olive oil. Bake the shells in a greased dish at 375 F for 15 min.

Stuffing:

2 medium onions, finely chopped
5 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 tsp dried pepperoncino
pulp of zucchini, finely chopped
1 tomato, seeded and finely chopped
1/2 cup brown rice, cooked
1/4 - 1/2 cup unseasoned bread crumbs
1 T pine nuts
1 T raisins
1/2 tsp fresh oregano, finely chopped
1/2 tsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1 T za'atar mix, optional
salt, pepper

2 T feta cheese

olive oil

Heat oil. Add garlic and saute until it colors slightly. Add pepperoncino and onions. Saute until onions color slightly. Add zucchini and fresh herbs. Add salt and pepper. Saute until zucchini softens. Add chopped up tomato and rice and heat them through. Add za'atar, pine nuts and raisins. Turn off stove. When the mixture cools slightly add bread crumbs. Just before stuffing add feta cheese.

Stuff mixture into the zucchini shells and place in the baking dish. Add some olive oil on top. Bake at 375 F for 20 min or until zucchini shells are tender. Serve with some lemon wedges.

This amount of stuffing will be good for six baby zucchinis.

Once these came out of the oven, the smell of za'atar and feta filled the air. Before I remembered to take photos, the little'uns were in our stomachs. And thats always a good thing, right?

Hats off to you cooks out there who always remember to take snaps of delicious things all the time!