Stuffed Zucchinis with Cheese and Italian Sausage

Steven is not the biggest fan of zucchinis but once they're stuffed with cheese and Italian sausage, even he can't resist them. I've converted him to a zucchini lover, albeit a meat-and-cheese stuffed zucchini lover. I've heard of stuffing bell peppers but stuffing zucchinis was a novel idea for me, one which I first saw on Elise's Simply Recipes. One of the great things about reading food blogs is seeing all the creative and delicious ideas bloggers come up with; it becomes addicting!

Stuffed Zucchinis with Cheese and Italian Sausage 

Adapted from Elise's Simply Recipes

6 zucchinis

4 Italian sausages

1 14 oz. can of diced tomatoes

2 garlic cloves

2 Tbsp white wine

1/4 tsp ground Italian herb

Optional: fresh basil or other herbs

1 egg

1/2 C grated mozzarella

1/4 C grated Parmesan

Vegetable oil

Salt and pepper

Slice the zucchinis in half lengthwise. Use a spoon and scoop out the insides leaving the zucchinis about 1/4 in thick. Sprinkle the insides of the zucchinis with some salt to draw out excess moisture. Chop the scooped zucchini insides and set aside.

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Brown the sausage and break it up into small pieces. Remove into a mixing bowl and set aside. Add the chopped zucchinis, drained tomatoes, garlic, white wine, dried Italian herb mix, salt and pepper to taste. Cook until all of the moisture has absorbed. Mix in the browned sausage and wait until the filling has cooled. 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Drain any moisture that may have come out of the filling before mixing in the cheese and egg. Also drain any moisture that has been drawn out of the zucchinis. Mix the egg and cheeses into the filling and scoop generously into the zucchinis. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the zucchinis have softened.

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Bok Choy

Sometimes when I cook vegetables, I like to keep it simple, just a quick stir fry with a bit of salt. Nothing else, no garlic, ginger, soy sauce, oyster sauce, sesame oil, etc. etc. Just oil and salt. This way it keeps the flavors clean and refreshing. There are so many varieties of bok choy it's sometimes hard to keep them straight. The kind of bok choy I most often use is baby bok choy, the variety with light green instead of white stalks. When it comes to most Chinese vegetables, bigger isn’t always better, the smaller ones are sweeter and more tender. Even in the same plant, I find that the inner leaves are much sweeter and tastier than the outer ones.

There are also many ways to cut bok choy. Some prefer to chop the leaves and separate the greens from the stalks since the leaves cook faster. Others like to cut the entire bok choy in half lengthwise or in quarters and cook it in large segments. What I like to do is take each leaf and slice down lengthwise to get about 1/2 in strips, leaf intact. I think it’s prettier this way and it’s more manageable to eat than a huge quarter segment.

Stir fried Bok Choy
Bok choy (1 head per person)
Salt
1 tsp vegetable oil per 2 bunches bok choy

Wash each leaf to get rid of the dirt, especially in the spoon-like area in the bottom. Slice 2 or 3 times lengthwise down the leaf for strips.

Heat oil in a wok or nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Add the bok choy and salt; cook stirring frequently. Cook until all the leaves are wilted then for another 1 minute and serve.

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