There is something so comforting about stuffed vegetables, it’s something to do with seeing the whole shape of the vegetable stuffed with yummy ingredients: lovely little packages of goodness.
Stuffed with a mix of parmesan cheese, lemon zest, pine nuts, sourdough bread crumbs, oregano, garlic, egg and cherry tomatoes these babies are a great side dish or can be served just as is.
I served it with lamb & feta meatballs, but I can also imagine serving it with salmon or steamed white fish for example. All in all a healthy option!
This recipe is inspired by @ottolenghi cookbook Simple.
Stuffed Courgettes with a Pine Nuts, Oregano and Lemon Salsa
(4 votes, average: 4.50 out of 5)
Loading...Ingredients
- 2 large courgettes, halved lengthwise
- 2-3 cloves garlic, grated
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 40 g parmesan (± 1/2 cup grated)
- 1 slice of (sourdough) bread with crust, blitzed into rough crumbs (or regular bread)
- 100 g cherry tomatoes, quartered
- The Salsa
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1-2 tbsp juice of a lemon
- 4 tbsp fresh oregano, or 2 tbsp dried (see notes)
- 2 - 3 tbsp pine nuts, lightly toasted
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- Pepper and salt for seasoning
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 230°C
With a spoon scrape out the marrow/pulp of the courgette, leave the peel about 1 cm thick.
Roughly chop the pulp and squeeze out as much water as possible, the drier the better.
Place this in a bowl and add he garlic, egg, parmesan, bread crumbs and season with pepper & salt.
Chop the tomatoes into quarters and squish them thoroughly with your hand into the mixture. Mix well and set aside.
Toast your pine nuts in a dry frying pan until just starting to colour then set aside in a bowl to cool.
In a separate bowl mix the lemon zest, toasted pine nuts and oregano.
Add half of this to the courgette mixture (mix through well) and set the other half aside.
Place the hollowed out courgettes on a baking tray or in an oven dish, brush the flesh lightly with some olive oil and season with pepper and salt.
Spoon in the courgette mixture and bake in the oven for 20-30 minutes. You'll know when it's done when the mixture has set and the topping is brown and crispy.
While it's in the oven you can finish the salsa.
To the bowl with the pine nuts add the lemon zest, oregano and1 tbsp lemon juice, 2 tablespoons olive oil and pepper and salt. Taste and adjust with any of the ingredients to your liking.
When the courgette is done, remove from the oven and sprinkle over the salsa.
Notes
If using dried oregano instead of fresh, I like to add some chopped parsley and some shredded basil.
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