Turn your back on a squash plant, and this is what happens. Those zucchini are about a foot long. If you have ever grown zucchini, you know that giving them away is not an option. Lots of eye rolling will meet a generous offer. Nothing to do but figure out ways to use them. I fired up the Cuissinart and shredded a bunch of them into 2 cup batches to go into the freezer. These can be used for soups, salads, zucchini bread and cupcakes. I made a salad of shredded zucchini, red pepper flakes, sliced cucumber and green beans in seasoned rice vinegar.
One of the big guys I cut down a bit, since there are only two of us. Scoop out the center, and while preparing the filling, bake the shells at 350. Dice the scooped out part and saute with onions, celery and mushrooms, adding a bit of broth as you go. Meanwhile, cook a cup of quinoa, using half broth for the liquid. Combine the quinoa, sauteed veggies and some grated parmesan. Heap the mixture into the zucchini shells and bake until the meat of the squash is tender.
Wendy at greenish thumb came up with the idea for a garden to table challenge. She always has interesting ideas for yummy ways to use produce, and so do her contributors.
ha ha! I’d call these zucchini ships! I love quinoa.
What a good idea to use these overgrown zukes. My dad’s neighbor asks specifically for gigantic zucchini. He makes pickles out of them and wants them large.
I made some zucchini boats for one of my GTT posts a few weeks ago. I’m going to try making them your way next time, looks good. I agree with Wendy they do look like ships 🙂
Wendy~I kept trying to pick them young and tender, but they’re good at hiding out under the huge leaves. I could use a neighbor like your dad’s.
Char~They can be filled with just about anything. I am trying to stay away from bread, so that eliminates a favorite stuffing recipe of mine, but a meatloaf mixture is good too. Now I’m going over to Wendy’s to check out yours. Welcome, by the way. I still get excited every time a new voice pops up here.