Stuffed Zucchini

Earlier this summer we had a lovely zucchini plant in our little garden. One zucchini plant. One zucchini plant that darn near took over that entire area of the garden. Even though it was huge, gigantic would be more like it, that darned plant just wasn’t producing anything. It had to have been 6 feet across and three feet high. It had loads of blooms on it, but every day we’d find the blooms gone. Just snapped right off at the top of the stem. Hmmm… something wasn’t quite right. And the yellow squash that was nearly buried under the zucchini was suffering the same fate.

Well, we finally figured it out. Here’s what was happening to the squash.

You might not be able to see them in there very well, but those are two fawns and mama is behind the bushes in the back. Apparently, squash blooms are like nectar to deer. Ours were anyway. So, while everyone else was enjoying an overabundance of zucchini and squash, I was purchasing ours from the local grocery store. That’s okay. Those little fawns are so sweet and cute and no one in the neighborhood would dare harm them. In fact, they rest under one of our trees several afternoons each week.

If you still have zucchini and need a good side dish for dinner, give this one a try. I made it up one evening while I had a pork tenderloin cooking and I think it turned out pretty good.

2 medium zucchini
1 tblsp butter
1 tblsp olive oil, plus more for drizzling
2-3 green onions, chopped
2 roma tomatoes
salt and pepper
½ cup bread crumbs
½ cup Parmesan, plus more for topping

Preheat the oven to 350.

Wash the zucchini well and cut it in half lengthwise. Microwave for 2-3 minutes. This softens it slightly and makes it easier to remove the interior. Chop the green onion and set aside.

Remove from the microwave and cool briefly. Then score ¼” in from the edge with a sharp knife. I do that to make it easier to remove the inside. It helps keep from accidentally cutting through the outer skin. Remove the interior of each zucchini half with a spoon.

Reserve the removed zucchini and zucchini shells for later.

Melt butter and olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the green onions and cook for 2-3 minutes or until slightly softened.

Dice the tomatoes.

To the skillet, add the reserved zucchini, diced tomato, salt, pepper, bread crumbs and parmesan cheese. Stir well to combine.

Fill the reserved zucchini shells with the mixture. Sprinkle more parmesan cheese on top and drizzle with olive oil.

Bake at 350 for approximately 20 minutes or until tender.

Enjoy!

Download a printable copy here.

Tagged as: cooking, Food, parmesan, recipes, Side Dishes, tomatoes, Vegetables, zucchini