I love making dishes that taste great and are super easy to create. This is one of those dishes. Not much prep work, you let the oven do all of the work and it makes a great presentation.
Keep in mind that I was using small zucchini because one, that’s whats available now and two, they fit into my really cool purple, sorry Casis Le Creuset dish. Size doesn’t matter as long as it fits.
Ingredients:
4 small zucchini about 6-8 inched in length
1-2 pounds of ground pork
1/2 onion diced
1 clove garlic minced
1 tsp oregano
1 egg beaten- can sub ground flax seed
1/2 – 1 cup bread crumbs- I used tortilla crumbs
Red sauce, marinara or pasta sauce
salt and pepper to taste
Direction:
Cut the ends off of the zucchini, cut it in half and then scoop out the seeds. I used some old funny looking garnishing tool I found in my drawer to scoop. You can use a melon baller, a teaspoon or anything you can find to scrape out the seeds.
Put a nice layer of sauce in the bottom of the pan so it comes up a little on the side but not very much. I’d say 1/4 – 1/2 inch.
Cut up your onion and garlic and mix it into the pork along with the seasonings and bread crumbs. Next add in the egg that you have beat and mix well.
Now it’s time to get messy. Grab a handful of the pork mixture and put it into the zucchini you have cleaned out. Place it skin side down and filling side up into your casserole pan. Finish until full. Don’t over stuff the pan. The zucchini will give off water as they cook and you don’t want all of that sauce all over your oven.
Cover tightly with foil and place in preheated oven to 425 degrees. Let it cook for 30 minutes. Check to see if the pork is cooked. If it’s looking good, remove the foil and let it cook the last 10-15 minutes open.
When it looks like it will melt in your mouth, and it will, remove from oven to serve.
I served mine with a side of fresh made gluten free pasta. This was asked to be placed on the have often meal list. So noted!
You can also find this recipe on Gluten Free Wednesdays.
That dish looks and sounds terrific, Diane. It makes me think of that cheesy chicken zucchini bake I've made. Small zucchini is the best anyway. I love your "melt in your mouth" comment. Yum!
Shirley
That sounds really good! And it's likely to be a great way to get a veggie into some veggie-hating kids!
That looks great. They're like mini meatloaves in a zucchini shell. I'll definitely give this a try sometime.
Oh these look good. And my husband would love them. I can't wait til zucchini comes into season to try it!
Omg that looks so fantastic 🙂 I cant wait to make these… I have been trying to find some tasty Gluten free recipes to make.
How is this gluten free if there are bread crumbs in it?
Cindy I use gluten free bread crumbs. I actually used ground up tortillas in this recipe.
Just finished this and it was SOOOOOO FREAKIN GOOD! I made two small pans (thinking one would be for tomorrow). Needless to say I am going to look for another recipe because it didn't make it. A guest worthy dish. The tortilla chips as breadcrumbs is a great idea.
Debra I'm so glad you liked this. Thank you for sharing that. Also thank you for the reminder of this dish. I just made and shared the vegetarian version. Sorry about the whole thing disappearing in one meal. Maybe I should add a warning. 🙂 Not to worry, it does around here too.