DAY 2- STUFFED COURGETTES

A dish from the Roman tradition that’s slowly disappearing. My grandma used to make them on occasion and despite being very simple they always felt like a treat. She would use long courgettes, I also found the round ones at my local greengrocer’s and I have to admit they’re not as good.

Ingredients:

4 Round courgettes/ 5 long ones

100 gr pork mince

100 gr beef mince

1 medium egg

30 gr ground almonds

1 heaped tbsp chopped parsley

e.v. olive oil, salt and black pepper to taste

Optional:

1 garlic clove

Tomato sauce, 250 gr

Chopped cherry tomatoes, a handful

Veg stock, as needed

Start by cutting the top of the round courgettes and leave it aside to use at the end as a lid.

If you own a Lancashire potato peeler (the long rounded one that resembles a knife) use that to easily carve your long courgettes. If you’re using the round ones, carve a cross in the flesh of the courgettes then gently pull it out using a spoon. Try not to leave more than a centimetre of flesh around the shell of the courgette.

That was the hardest part.

Preheat a static oven to 160’ or a fan oven to 140’.

Now chop the courgette flesh very finely and mix it in a bowl with all the other ingredients: the mince meat, ground almonds (if you don’t have ground almonds you could roast and ground any other nut that’s in your cupboard), egg, parsley, olive oil, salt and pepper.

Fill the courgettes with the mince mix to the edge and cover with their lids. Cook for about 50 minutes.

Another cooking option, my personal favourite, is to simmer the courgettes in a pan with tomato sauce and cherry tomatoes (this option is only applicable to the long courgettes though).

In a large pan heat a couple of spoonfuls of olive oil with the garlic clove. Once the clove has turned golden, add the tomato sauce and let simmer for a few minutes. Throw in the chopped cherry tomatoes, stir for another couple of minutes, then add the stuffed courgettes and cover with a lid. Whenever the sauce seems to get gry, add a ladle of veg stock then cover again. Turn the courgettes after about 15 minutes and gently simmer for another 15, adding broth whenever needed.

I usually have mince mix left over that I would use the next day to make oven baked meat balls.