So I made these with my other half The Soz and they turned out pretty well. Thought I’d share. The method is simple — hollow out a zucchini, fill it with mince, top it with cheese, bake it. That’s it. The rest is just technique.
My wife grows a lot of veggies in our garden – zucchini, pumpkin, beans, tomatoes, blueberries, and more. So all we have to do when we want to eat zucchini boats is go out the garden and harvest some veggies.
How to Make Zucchini Boats
Here’s what you do. Start by preheating the oven to 180°C.
Wash two large zucchini and cut them in half lengthwise. Scoop out the seeds first — keep them if you want to make soup with them later. Then scrape out some of the pulp too, but don’t go too far. You still need the shell to hold its shape when it’s filled.
Follow the same procedure with the next zucchini.
Put the shells in the oven while you work on the rest of the ingredients. About 10 minutes should do it, lesser if the zucchini is small. You’re just getting a head start so they don’t need to sit in the oven forever once the filling and cheese go on.
Now fry up your onions, mushrooms, beans and the zucchini pulp you scooped out. Once that’s going, add the mince. Beef mince, 1 kg of it. Fry it through — 10 to 15 minutes. Add in pesto or onion gravy or whatever paste you like to work with. That’s your flavour base, so don’t be shy with it.
Now add the zucchini pulp back to the mince, or if you don’t want to use that, add some boiled cabbage leaves.
You’ll know when the filling is done, because the aroma fills the air. Take the shells out and load them up with the filling. Pack it in properly, and then cover the lot with grated cheese.
Back into the oven at 180°C until the cheese browns. Keep an eye on it — it doesn’t take long at that point. And that’s your zucchini boats. Ready to float into your buccal cavity. 😄
Tips for making our home baked zucchini boats
- Fry the mince for 10 to 15 minutes till ready.
- Pre-fry the zucchini shells before adding the filling — that way the cheese doesn’t have to wait around for the zucchini to catch up.
- You can also add boiled cabbage to the filling — it works well and bulks it out.
- It’s approximately 10 minutes for a large zucchini. Smaller ones need less time, so make sure you pull them out early or the shell will collapse. Of course, everything depends on your oven.
- If you like this recipe, you might like my wife’s Bobotie and Melktert recipes.
Zucchini Boats with Beef Mince and Kidney Beans
Click the stars to add your rating! Left you don’t like it, right you love it!
Ingredients
- 1 Kilograms Minced beef
- 2 Green Zucchini
- 2 Onions large
- 250 grams Mushrooms Button or Portobello
- 100 grams Kidney Beans
- 200 millilitres Pesto Sauce Or any other paste
- 200 gms Cheese To be grated
- 0.5 Cabbage Optional
Instructions
- Wash the zucchini and cut into halves lengthwise.
- Scrape out the seeds (you can use the seeds to create a soup).
- Once you have scraped out the seeds you can scrape out the pulp/flesh of the Zucchini making sure not to scrape too much so that the zucchini shell still maintains its form.
- Fry the onions, mushrooms, zucchini pulp and beans along with the mince in a frying Pan. You can add pesto, onion gravy or any mix to it to give it a base taste you fancy.
- Place the zucchini shells in the oven whilst you are preparing the mince, so they can take about 10 minutes.
- Once the mince and the rest of the ingredients in the frying pan is ready fill the zucchini shells with it.
- Sprinkle grated cheese on the top and place it in the oven until the cheese is golden brown. Your mouth-watering zucchini boats are ready to float into your buccal cavity.
Please click to rate the recipe! Left you don’t like it, right you love it!
Notes
- Fry the mince for 10 to 15 minutes till ready.
- Pre-fry the zucchini shells before adding the filling so that the cheese doesn’t have to wait around for the zucchini to catch up.
- You need 10 minutes for a large zucchini. Smaller ones need less time, pull them out early or the shell will collapse.
- You can also add boiled cabbage to the filling — it works well and bulks it out.
Nutrition (Per Serving)
Disclaimer: Nutrition Information per serving is estimated by a third party software based on the ingredients used, and is for informational purposes only. It will vary from product to product, based on methods of preparation, origin and freshness of ingredients. Please consult the package labels of the ingredients you use, or chat with your dietician for specific details.
This printable recipe card is for home use only. For more recipes head over to AbbysHearth.comOther Posts You Might Like
- How to make paneer
- Beef bones soup recipe
- Mutton khudi curry
- South African Bobotie recipe
- Oxtail Potjiekos
Hey this is paps, this is my blog, Here you’ll find stories from my travelling log;
I’ve been to places but not a lot, These are stories of what I’ve seen and thought;
Small tales of places I’ve been to, So go on have a browse, have a read-through.
Apart from that, I’m more a follower of Christ, and lover of God and man.
Souls must be saved, the lost must be found,
it’s time to do stuff like the heavenly hound.
Okay, you know I was referring to the ‘Hound of Heaven’ poem!