These stuffed courgettes combine ricotta and fresh mint to make a deliciously light and flavour-filled dish. Serve with a sweet baby tomato, red onion & celery salad for a lovely lunch or light dinner. Or you could serve it with other vegetable dishes, such as these stuffed aubergines, at larger gatherings.
Serves 4
Ingredients
4 medium-sized courgettes
50g butter + extra for dotting on top for shine when cooking
1 medium-sized red onion, finely chopped
10 green pitted olives, roughly chopped
2 eggs
80g ricotta
60g grated Parmesan
40g breadcrumbs
handful of mint leaves, finely chopped
For the topping:
20 mint leaves, finely chopped
20g breadcrumbs
10g grated parmesan
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 200C and lightly grease a large ovenproof dish.
2. Slice the courgettes in half lengthways in half. With a small sharp knife, make an incision all around the edge and scoop out the pulp, so you are left with 8 empty courgette shells. Arrange them in the baking dish.
3. Roughly chop the courgette pulp.
4. Heat the butter in a large frying pan, add the onion and sweat on a medium heat until softened.
5. Add the courgette pulp and olives, and cook for a further minute or so until the pulp has softened. Season to taste. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
6. In a bowl, lightly beat the eggs, mix in the grated parmesan and ricotta. Add mint, breadcrumbs and cooled courgette mixture. Mix well.
7. Fill the courgette shells with the mixture. Either dot with a spoon or use a piping bag.
8. Combine the topping ingredients and sprinkle over the top of the filled courgettes, then dot with tiny knobs of butter.
9. Cover with foil and bake in the oven for 30 minutes, removing the foil 5 minutes before the end of cooking time.
10. Remove from the oven and leave to rest for a couple of minutes before serving.
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Recipe c/o Gennaro Contaldo and Bertolli