A zucchini plant in a home garden can yield a big amount of produce which very often a small family may not be able to cope with. Besides giving the zucchini to friends and enjoying the tender baby zucchini and the delightful zucchini blossoms, one may decide to try letting the zucchini grow to an extraordinary size for stuffing.
When home grown zucchini grow to 1.5 kg (3.3 lbs), they are still very tender and can be used for any recipe. If they are left to continue growing they can increase to an impressive size. The following recipe deals with a zucchini weighing 3.6 kg (8 lbs).
Giant Stuffed Zucchini with Stuffed Quails
Inevitably the flesh of a zucchini of such size is not as tender as those of smaller statures. It acquires the texture of a squash and the skin is a bit tough (which can be discarded), but it is fun to invent a recipe for it and certainly it will impress guests and family members, which is achieved by stuffing it whole.
Ingredients
- 1 big zucchini
- 6 quails
- 3 onions
- 1 cup dry cranberries
- 1 cup seedless and skinless grapes
- 1 tablespoon lemon thyme
- salt and pepper
- oil, preferably olive oil
Directions
This recipe is a little complicated but not difficult. It requires patience and time. It is recommended to dedicate an afternoon to it.
- Clean the quails and pad them dry. Use a small sharp knife to take out all the bones. Reserve.
- Chop the onions.
- Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a frying pan. Add the onions and cook until brown and translucent.
- When the onions are cooking, prepare the grapes. Choose the grapes of one's preference. Skin them, cut them in halves and take out the seeds.
- Add the cranberries to the frying pan and continue cooking.
- Add the grapes and stir the mixture.
- Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Turn off the fire.
- Stuff the quails. Remember not to put in too much filling. Handle the quails gently because the skin can get torn easily. Follow the instruction detailed in How to Bone a Chicken and sew up the quails.
- Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a skillet. Brown the quails on all sides. Reserve.
- Wash the zucchini and cut a slice at the bottom. It should have enough space for putting one's hand in.
- Start taking the flesh of the zucchini out. Only spoon out the middle part that is soft and leave the hard part close to the skin. Work slowly and carefully with a small knife, beware of piercing the outer skin.
- After emptying the zucchini rub the inside thoroughly with salt and pepper. Rub in lemon thyme. Thyme can be used, but lemon thyme gives a fresh citric taste. The flesh of the zucchini can be discarded. The seeds would be as big as pumpkin seeds, which can be dried and saved for planting.
- Put the stuffed quails in. Close the end of the zucchini with a foil.
- Heat the oven to 210C (410F). Rub the outside of the zucchini generously with oil and put it in.
- Cook for one and a half hour.
- The zucchini should be soft and a wooden stick should pierce through with ease.
How to Serve Stuffed Zucchini with Stuffed Quails
Now the dish is ready. Carefully slice the zucchini in 5 cm (2 inches), which should hold one quail. The zucchini would have absorbed the taste of the quail which in turn would be fused with the sweet taste from the cranberries and grapes. Remember to take out the thread from the quails when serving.
Alternatively, a smaller zucchini can be used also. Reduce the amount of stuffed quails and cooking time accordingly.
A Special and Elaborate Dish That is Quite Different
Treat guests and family members with this impressive and tasty dish for a special occasion, and one will find that it is worth the effort.
For other zucchini recipes, please read other S101 articles on how to cook baby zucchini with flowers, and zucchini as side dish.
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