Zucchini Boats

I am always on the look out for easy vegetarian side dishes to go with pastas, pizzas and burgers. Zucchini boats turned out to be just the thing. they are simple to make, healthy, and can be altered and personalized in a million ways.

So here is the recipe:

You'll need:
- 3 medium sized Zucchini
- 1 large onion
- 3-4 cloves of garlic (More if you like things garlicky)
- Italian seasoning
- Panko bread crumbs
- Red chilli flakes
- grated cheese (I used an italian blend of 2 italian cheese. I magine it will be tasty with just about any cheese)
- Butter and or Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- Salt

- Preheat the oven to 340
- Wash and slice zucchini's into halves lengthwise. Scoop out the insides to make boats. I allow about 1/2 cm of thickness on the boats... just depends on how much pulp the zucchini's have. Reserve the pulp. Brush the boats inside and out with EVOO and keep aside.
- Chop the pulp (if in large chunks) into small pieces.
- Chop 1 large onion and 3-5 cloves of garlic
- Heat butter (or EVOO) in a pan, add the garlic, then the onion - saute until onions are cooked. Add the zucchini pulp. Saute until the pulp is cooked. At this point, things will be fairly wet. Add about a cup of Panko bread crumbs and mix well to get a crumbly slightly dry mixture. (You may have to play with the amount of bread crumbs needed) Now add salt, italian seasoning and red chilli flakes to taste.
- We can get very creative with this stuffing - add quinoa, add bell peppers, olives, mushrooms, etc.
- Now fill the boats with this filling, top with cheese (I used the italian blend... that had 3 italian cheeses). Bake for 30-40 mins.
- Broil for 1-2 mins to get the cheese to brown.

If you like your vegetables with a bite to them, bake only for 30 mins. I like my vegetables well cooked, so I bake for 40 mins. Also, the zucchini's tend to soften a bit after they cool - so bake them to slightly less that what you want them to be.

Thats it. If you try it out, please leave a comment and let me know how it turned out. It tastes much better the next day!