Zucchini. Seven Days. Seven Ways.
Day 5: Stuff It!
If zucchini can be a substitute for pasta noodles why not stuff it and call it cannelloni. I know how delicious and meaty mushrooms are in my vegetarian spaghetti and thought they would make the perfect stuff. Mushrooms are so used to being the stuff-ed so how bout a little role reversal to spice things up! Add goat cheese and olives to this perfection and top it with your favorite red sauce. Now that’s amore!
Ingredients
- 1 large zucchini (or 2 medium)
- 2C Brown Mushrooms
- 1/2C Greek Olives chopped
- 1/4C Red Onion chopped
- 2 Garlic Cloves chopped
- 1/4tsp sea salt
- 1/4tsp black pepper
- 4oz crumbled goat cheese
- 1 Jar spicy red pepper pasta sauce
Instructions
-
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Slice zucchini into oblong 1/4in slices
- Chop mushrooms, olives, onion and garlic.
- Mix chopped ingredients with salt and pepper and stir.
- Lastly add the goat cheese and stir until just mixed.
- Oil a 9x9in baking pan.
- Roll up zucchini slices one at a time and hold while you spoon in mixture.
- Place seem side down into baking pan.
- Poor 2c of pasta sauce over the top and bake for 30 min.
Start by slicing a large zucchini into oblong 1/4in thick slices. It helps that at first, I let the one’s in my garden over grow a bit so I had some big mama-jamas. Everyone says if you let them grow too big they are bitter but garden fresh they are still delicious and after they are cooked you really don’t notice. Once again I utilized this handy gadget called the chef’s envy which cuts easily and consistently. If you don’t have one I’m sure a knife will suffice. Either way be careful and watch your fingers!
Another gadget I love it this onion saver. I’m not sure why onions are so huge these days so I couldn’t possibly use one all at once. This cute container is awesome and air tight keeping the onion fresh and saving my whole fridge from stinking. A quick word about the mushrooms- lets face it, brown mushrooms or portobello have way more flavor so don’t cheat by using white ones.
Chop the next four ingredients. Again I chose to play with the vitamix in chopping up the mushrooms, pulsing it on the 4 setting. They became a pleasing consistency that reminded me of ground meat. Then mix all of these ingredients with the salt and pepper. Lastly add the cheese. I like to believe in my heart that goat cheese is less fattening than ricotta, if that’s not true just please don’t spoil it for me.
Roll up the zucchini slices one at a time and stuff by the spoon full. I held it in my left hand while stuffing with my right, alternating one side then the other so it wouldn’t fall out. Don’t be afraid to pack it in there a little. I also packed them into the greased baking dish seam side down in hopes they would stay together, which worked pretty well. Once they are all done top with 2c of sauce or use the whole jar if you would like! My favorite sauce is a spicy red pepper which gives it a little kick and complexity. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 min. Zucchini is 95% water so if the pan has a little excess water in it just spoon it out as you serve. I plan on making one delicious cup of soup with my excess liquid cause that’s how I roll. You can also prepare this dish and substitute eggplant for the zucchini’s. Hopefully I will be doing in a few short weeks If I have any eggplants to harvest. Good Luck!