Stuffed Courgettes

"What in the world am I going to do with these courgettes?"



On a whim. Yes, that's how it happened. You know how they say that you only end up buying things you don't really need when you're shopping in-store? Well, that's not entirely true - browsing on Tesco's online grocery site presents the same sort of temptation with the added bonus of not having to carry anything home after that.

Anyway, after a quick chat with mum and some online recipe-hunting, I decided to give stuffed courgettes a shot. The idea seemed simple enough and appeared to be quite popular within the online cooking community.

Ingredients
Courgettes
Eggs (one for every courgette)
Mushrooms
Tomatoes
Celery
Onions
Sage
Basil
Coriander
Black pepper
Soy sauce
Salt
Olive oil

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees celcius
Chop the mushrooms, tomatoes, celery and onions
Cook the courgettes whole in boiling water for about 4 minutes
Slice open courgettes lengthwise and using a spoon, scoop the flesh out. Chop the flesh up.
Saute the onions in some olive oil and add to that the chopped mushrooms, tomatoes, celery, onions and courgette.
Add a little soy sauce and let the ingredients soften.
In a bowl, mix the cooked vegetables with the egg, adding pepper and herbs to taste.
Put the mixture into the courgette cases, lay them onto a foil-lined baking tray and pop into the oven for 15 - 20 minutes.

Having never really been a fan of cucumbers or courgettes, I armed myself with a myriad of sauces, anticipating the stuffed courgettes to lack strength of flavour. I cannot be more glad that I was wrong - the courgette cases had taken on a delightful soft, slightly springy texture after spending time in the oven and the simple recipe really allowed the delicate sweetness of the vegetables to mingle and come through. Needless to say, the sauces went right back into the cupboard.

I love how the dish can be tweaked to suit your fancy - next up, curried stuffed courgettes, perhaps?






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