Zucchini Boats

The Zucchinis have started. And now we need to try to come up with ways to use each and every one.

And our very fa-vor-ite is to make them into a boat and stuff them. And this is how it’s done:

The tips and ends of each zucchini—you should have six small—are sliced off and set aside. What is left is placed in a pot of boiling water until the zucchini turns a brilliant green. They are removed and set aside to cool.

And while that’s happening, a red pepper (or tomato, if that’s what you’ve got) is chopped coarsely along with a medium sweet onion and a clove or two of garlic. Each zucchini is sliced in half lengthwise, and its innards scooped out. These are chopped coarsely as well and mixed with the peppers (tomatoes), onions, and garlic. All are put in a large cast iron frying pan along with five tablespoons of butter.  

The whole mix is cooked until it’s done and by done, I mean softened, with the onions being transparent. To this a cup of a semi-sweet white wine is added and cooked until it’s reduced by half. The pan is taken off the heat and a cup of crushed garlic croutons is stirred in along with a tablespoon of freshly chopped thyme and the whole thing is set aside to cool at room temperature.

The zucchini boats bottoms are buttered and the hollows stuffed and each boat placed in a tin-foiled baking dish and baked in a preheated three-hundred-and-fifty-degree oven for forty minutes or until the tops are crispy and the bottoms sizzling. These are great hot, but equally good chilled for lunch on the next day.