Italian-style Stuffed Zucchini + use the extra sauce over pasta

Italian-style Stuffed Zucchini
over brown rice

Still more zucchini . . . this time I tried an Italian inspired recipe. I adapted a recipe that I found online and increased the amount of meat-veggie sauce and used the extra over cooked spaghetti linguine for another meal.

Italian-style Stuffed Zucchini

24 to 26 ounces marinara or spaghetti sauce, divided (purchased or homemade)

3 medium zucchini (ideal if they are uniformly sized)

Sauce:

1 pound lean ground beef

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/2 cup chopped bell pepper (I used a variety of colored peppers)

1 cup chopped button mushrooms

1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian herbs such as parsley, oregano, basil

1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt

Fresh ground black pepper, to taste

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste

Dried Italian seasoning to taste if needed

Zucchini Boat Topping:

About 1 1/2 cups fresh mozzarella cheese (or could use shredded)

1/4 cup  panko bread crumbs drizzled with olive oil (olive oil insures they will brown)

1. Preheat oven to 375°. Measure out 1 cup of the marinara sauce and set aside.
2. Trim ends from zucchini and slice in half, lengthwise. Use the tip of a spoon to scrape out the seeds; they scrape out the  zucchini flesh, chop it and set it aside (if there is not enough flesh, chop up another zucchini – that’s what I did to equal about 1 cup chopped zucchini).
3. Place the scooped out zucchini boats into a 13" x 9" baking dish and add about 1" of water. Cover with foil and bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, until just slightly fork-tender. Remove from oven, and set aside to cool slightly.
   
4. Sauce: Heat a large skillet over medium heat; add beef, onion, bell pepper, and garlic to the skillet. Cook, stirring to break up the ground meat as it cooks. Continue to cook and stir until meat is thoroughly cooked and veggies have softened. Drain off grease if needed, or if meat is really lean, a tablespoon of so of olive oil could be added.
   
5. Add the chopped zucchini flesh, mushrooms, remaining marinara (reserve 1 cup for later), parsley, fresh Italian herbs, salt, black pepper, crushed red pepper and dried Italian herbs.. Stir well to combine. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat and allow to simmer over low heat for about 15 minutes.
   
   
   
   
6. Remove partially cooked zucchini from baking dish and pour off water. Pour the 1 cup of reserved marinara sauce into the empty baking dish and place zucchini boats on top of the sauce. (At this point, I divided the zucchini and marinara between 2 smaller dishes for one meal now and another later.)
7. Divide the filling between the zucchini boats. If you have extra filling, spoon it into the dish around the zucchini boats.
   
8. Topping: Top zucchini with cheese and bread crumbs that have been stirred to distribute added oil.
   
9. Cover the dish with foil, and bake for 30+ minutes or until zucchini is fork tender; remove foil last 10 minutes so cheese and bread crumbs can brown or turn to broil last few minutes if preferred.
   
10. Serve with rice.
    

As I mentioned, I adjusted the recipe to make extra meat sauce that I used over  cooked pasta for another meal . . .

Also, you might like to  try our recipe for Garden-style Stuffed Zucchini Boats . . .

Recipe without photos . . .

Italian-style Stuffed Zucchini 

24 to 26 ounces marinara or spaghetti sauce, divided (purchased or homemade)

3 medium zucchini (ideal if they are uniformly sized)

Sauce:

1 pound lean ground beef

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/2 cup chopped bell pepper (I used a variety of colored peppers)

1 cup chopped button mushrooms

1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian herbs such as parsley, oregano, basil

1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt

Fresh ground black pepper, to taste

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes, or to taste

Dried Italian seasoning to taste if needed

Zucchini Boat Topping:

About 1 1/2 cups fresh mozzarella cheese (or could use shredded)

1/4 cup panko bread crumbs drizzled with olive oil (olive oil insures they will brown)

1. Preheat oven to 375°. Measure out 1 cup of the marinara sauce and set aside.
2. Trim ends from zucchini and slice in half, lengthwise. Use the tip of a spoon to scrape out the seeds; they scrape out the  zucchini flesh, chop it and set it aside (if there is not enough flesh, chop up another zucchini – that’s what I did to equal about 1 cup chopped zucchini).
3. Place the scooped out zucchini boats into a 13" x 9" baking dish and add about 1" of water. Cover with foil and bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes, until just slightly fork-tender. Remove from oven, and set aside to cool slightly.
4. Sauce: Heat a large skillet over medium heat; add beef, onion, bell pepper, and garlic to the skillet. Cook, stirring to break up the ground meat as it cooks. Continue to cook and stir until meat is thoroughly cooked and veggies have softened. Drain off grease if needed, or if meat is really lean, a tablespoon of so of olive oil could be added.
5. Add the chopped zucchini flesh, mushrooms, remaining marinara (reserve 1 cup for later), parsley, fresh Italian herbs, salt, black pepper, crushed red pepper and dried Italian herbs.. Stir well to combine. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat and allow to simmer over low heat for about 15 minutes.
6. Remove partially cooked zucchini from baking dish and pour off water. Pour the 1 cup of reserved marinara sauce into the empty baking dish and place zucchini boats on top of the sauce. (At this point, I divided the zucchini and marinara between 2 smaller dishes for one meal now and another later.)
7. Divide the filling between the zucchini boats. If you have extra filling, spoon it into the dish around the zucchini boats.
8. Topping: Top zucchini with cheese and bread crumbs that have been stirred to distribute added oil.
9. Cover the dish with foil, and bake for 30+ minutes or until zucchini is fork tender; remove foil last 10 minutes so cheese and bread crumbs can brown or turn to broil last few minutes if preferred.
10. Serve with rice.