Zucchini Boats

It’s always a treat to visit our friends in Truchas, sitting at 8,000 feet in elevation the air is crisp, clean, and a bit cooler than down at 7,000 feet. These are the kind of friends that fill you up while you’re there then send you home with copious amounts of food to feed an army. On this late summer day, she loaded us up with no less than 10 pounds of zucchini, jumbo size.

My heart sunk for a second. I don’t waste food and my Armo is not a lover of squash. I pictured myself gnawing away at tough zucchini for far too long. My friend said, the big ones are for zucchini boats. You slice them lengthwise, spoon out the seeds and stuff them with a meat sauce. Despite her being a very good cook, I thought she’d lost her mind.

I was wrong. They were delicious. Jumbo zucchini can be desirable. If you’re the kind of gardener who is always at the top of their game and picks zucchini when they’re small, resist the urge and let a few go wild. You won’t be disappointed.

I use the meat base of my lasagna recipe for stuffing these, but you can use whatever sauce you like best. Just make sure you cook almost all of the liquid out so you don’t have a soupy mess.

Ingredients
6 jumbo zucchini
2 Tbl olive oil
½ tsp salt (zucchini)
¾ tsp black pepper (zucchini)
1.5 lbs of ground beef
12 ounces tomato paste
8 ounces tomato sauce
1 large onion
1 green bell pepper
1 lb of mushrooms
2 tsp salt (meat)
3 green onions
1 Tbl basil
1 Tbl marjoram
1.5 tsp thyme
1.5 t crushed red pepper
1 Tbl oregano
3 cups water
6 cloves of garlic
8 ounces of Parmesan (block)

Directions
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. Line a sheet pan (make sure it has sides) with parchment. Slice off the ends of the zucchini. Depending on your pan size, you can cut them in half or into thirds around the equator. Then slice them in half lengthways. If you’re working with shorter pieces, stand the zuchinni on a flat side and slice it down the middle. If you’re dealing with a long piece, lay it on its side. Place the palm of your hand (no fingers) on the top to steady the squash, hold the knife with flat side down and slice the squash across the length. If you feel too much resistance, use a sharper knife or use the first method.

Take a spoon and scoop out the seeds and surrounding material. You’ll feel a resistance difference between the center that you’re removing and what’s left behind. Don’t remove too much flesh or your boats won’t hold shape and you’ll be wasting food. If you don’t scoop out enough, you risk bitter boats.

Lay the boats on the parchment and coat them with oil and sprinkle (hold your hand high for even distribution) salt and pepper. Pop them in the oven until they’re soft. The timing depends on the size of the zucchini pieces – start checking them after 25 minutes. They’re done when a fork can slide through the boat with almost no resistance.

Heat a saute (or large frying pan) pan to medium heat and add the beef. You should hear a little sizzle upon impact. Adjust the heat accordingly. Use the tip of a spatula in a vertical downward motion to break up the meat. Occasionally flip and repeat. It’s easy for the meat to break apart while cooking than letting it cook in a block then separating. You can have it as chunky as you like.

Chop your onion and bell pepper. Wash your shrooms thoroughly people! and slice them. When the meat is medium dark brown, stir in the tomato paste and let it begin to brown. Stir occasionally until it’s red brown. You’ll notice the paste will stick to the bottom a little. That’s ok, but it should not burn. If it’s sticking too much, quickly lower your heat and/or add a little (1Tbl at time) water.

Add the onion and bell pepper. When the onions are clear, add the mushrooms, tomato sauce, and salt. Cover the pot so the mushrooms heat faster which allows the moisture to leach out quicker. When the liquid releases, uncover the pot.

Hold the green onions at the root end and slice it thinly (green and white). Toss out the roots. Add it to the beef mixture with basil, marjoram, thyme, oregano, and water. Allow it to simmer until it’s very thick. You should be able to run a spoon through the top with almost no backfill. Turn off the heat.

Smash and mince the garlic. Stir it into the heat mixture. Spoon it into the boats.

Grate the parmesan and sprinkle on top of the heat mixture. Bake until the cheese is melted and if you see any liquid (you might not) bubbles.

Notes
In Louisiana, we call our spaghetti red gravy which some parts of the Northeast calls it that. I don’t know if it’s the same or not. The biggest differentiator of a red gravy v marinara is the long cooking time that the red becomes nearly brown which brings an incredible depth of flavor. It takes hours and hours to accomplish it. I noticed that in some Middle Eastern recipes, you add tomato paste to a relatively dry pot and you slightly brown it before adding other liquids. I tried this method when making red gravy. The method works and greatly reduces the cooking time without sacrificing the flavor. Please only whisper this trick because I don’t need the Italian mawmaws rolling in their graves. You can use this concept when making red gravy and meatballs too – just increase the ratio of tomato paste to sauce to increase the flavor depth and add more water at the end.