(serves two – one courgette each)
You might ask, hmmmm, how does one stuff a courgette? Well, read this and I’ll tell you. This is a quick blog post for a quick dish I made tonight with just a few store cupboard ingredients, so there’s a lack of process pictures; I only realised after eating that it was worth writing about! It is cheap and easy (pardon the innuendo), but looks quite impressive! Plus I threw in a load of healthy things and it tasted really fresh and flavoursome for my dinner tonight…
INGREDIENTS
- 2 courgettes, cut in half lengthways, scoop out the flesh with a spoon, chop and keep aside
- 1 medium onion, finely diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 carrot, grated
- Small handful of walnuts, chopped
- 1 tablespoon sunflower seeds
- 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
- 50g pearl barley
- A few sprigs of fresh thyme (dried is also fine)
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons fresh parsley, chopped
METHOD
- Fry the onion and garlic in the oil on a medium heat for 7 to 10 minutes until golden brown.
- Add the chopped carrot, courgette flesh, thyme, salt and pepper, mix well to coat everything. Continue cooking for a further 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile cook the pearl barley according to packet instructions.
- Add the seeds, nuts and fresh parsley to the onion/carrot mix, stir well and turn off the heat. Then add the cooked pearl barley, again stir in to mix everything together.
- Brush a little olive oil onto the outside of the halved courgettes and place on a baking tray. Grill on a medium setting for 10 minutes.
- Remove from the grill/oven and spoon the mixture into each hollowed out courgette. Return to the grill/oven on a lower setting for a further 10 minutes. Keep an eye on them so they don’t burn! Serve immediately.
I put this together with things I had lying around, so you don’t need to follow the recipe exactly if you don’t have a certain ingredient in your cupboard. I put the seeds and nuts in for a bit of crunch and protein to make this more balanced and substantial. Awesome fact alert: Sunflower seeds have almost the equal amount of protein as the same sized portion of chicken would provide. Once again proving you can cut out the meat and still get the nutrients you need 😉
I will definitely make this again with tomatoes and fresh basil, and rice instead of pearl barley. I do hope you have a go at this one, it was improvisation which turned out really well. Plus I made extra filling which I can have mixed with salad for lunch tomorrow. Nice one.
S.x
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