We haven’t had anything more than an herb garden in a few years. Thankfully, we live down the street from a large farm stand. With its proximity, I find myself walking there quite often in the late afternoon to procure fresh produce for our dinner. Zucchini is one piece of produce that arrives fairly early in the summer for New Hampshire and tends to last the entire season. As I love this veggie, I’m always looking for new way to serve it.
I have made other variations of stuffed zucchini. I’ve made a vegetarian version and also a simple sausage stuffed variation. For this newest recipe, I had a few goals. First I wanted it to be hearty enough to be the entree, which meant some sort of protein would need to be incorporated. I also wanted to keep it healthy, as we’ve had lots of indulgent meals in the past few weeks. I also wanted to finish a jar of marinara with the same dish.
These goals were easy to incorporate into the dish. By using lean ground chicken I met two of the goals. Because I used ground chicken, which is so mild, it was great to have the marinara to impart more flavor.
This dish proved to be a successful main dish. Depending on your diner’s appetite, you’ll want one to two whole zucchinis per person. Of course, if you have a garden full of zucchini, you’ll be glad to get rid of a bunch with this dish!
I
- 3 zucchini, cut in half lengthwise
- 1/2 pound lean ground chicken
- 2 teaspoons dried basil
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- Salt & pepper
- 1/4 cup diced onion
- 1/2 cup marinara
- Mozzarella
- Parmesan
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Scoop pulp and seeds from zucchini, leaving 1/4-1/2″ thick shell.
- Place zucchini cut side up in 13×9 pan; add small amount of water and cover with foil.
- Bake for 15 minutes.
- In a large nonstick pan over medium heat, cook chicken fully.
- Season with basil and oregano. Add salt and pepper, if desired.
- Transfer cooked chicken to a large bowl.
- Dice zucchini that was scooped out.
- In same frying pan, saute diced onion and zucchini.
- Add to cooked chicken, and stir, adding marinara as well.
- Remove zucchini from oven, uncover, and discard water.
- Divide filling among the six halves.
- Cover and bake for 20 minutes.
- Uncover, top with mozzarella, and bake for 5 minutes.
- Serve hot with parmesan, if desired.
