Jeff Green | Oct 01, 2015


This might not be the best recipe for everyone, but it is my favourite, and it is the one we make at home. And it is good enough to make up to four times a year, which is as many baseball bat zucchinis as anyone should allow to happen.

After all, how hard is it to check the zucchini plants every two days? Pretty hard, it turns out, especially in a zucchini season that has lingered into late September.

The good news is that zucchini, prime tomato, Swiss chard and early fall spinach seasons have all come together, making this a perfect time for this dish.

Ingredients

  • One large zucchini
  • Rice
  • 3-4 (or more) fresh ripe tomatoes – any kind chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves chopped
  • 2 onions chopped
  • Swiss chard or spinach – cut in pieces
  • paprika – hot or sweet
  • olive oil
  • grated cheddar cheese - hard, sharp Italian cheese (Romano or Parmesan) or both

Instructions - Cook rice and set aside – You can use leftover rice in this recipe but the rice must not be overcooked. Cut off the blossom end of the zucchini and cut it into two long boats. With a heavy metal cooking spoon, remove all the seeds from the centre of the two zucchini boats so they end up resembling canoes. Set aside. Preheat oven to 350 F.

In a saucepan clear onions over medium heat, turn down heat a little and add garlic and simmer until it is soft. Add the rice and break it up. Add tomatoes and spinach and stir into the rice mixture. The tomatoes will cook and the spinach/chard will wilt into the hot rice. Keep stirring until the rice is nice and red with green flecks, adding more tomatoes to keep the mixture slightly liquid. Add paprika and salt and pepper to taste.

Spoon the rice mixture into the two zucchini boats forcing it in as tightly as possible. Place the boats on baking sheets and cover with tin foil. Place them in the oven and cook for 45 minutes to an hour, until a knife can cut through the zucchini easily. Remove from the oven and cover with cheese and return to the oven for five minutes or until the cheese melts (or forms a thin crust, in the case of the hard cheese).

Remove from oven, let cool for a minute and then cut into thick slices and eat with bread and salad and more grated cheese.

Serve with Italian wine (red or white) or a crisp IPA beer

(a Muskoka Detour, or an Amsterdam Boneshaker will do nicely.)

Support local
independant journalism by becoming a patron of the Frontenac News.