Vegan Mediterranean Stuffed Zucchini Boat
A Delicious Complete Protein Meal
This Vegan Mediterranean Stuffed Zucchini Boat is loaded with your favorite combination of Mediterranean flavors. It is heaping over with quinoa, chic peas, garlic, onions, sun-dried tomatoes, fresh thyme and capers. Top off this main course meal with more capers and vegan smoked provolone cheese. This recipe was made on a very large zucchini to embrace our home growers, but you can use this recipe to fill smaller zucchini’s. This is a recipe the whole family will enjoy.
History Of The Zucchini
We have been eating zucchini’s for hundreds of years, so we think. It is interesting to look back at where our food originally came from. For instance, people think that zucchini’s came from Italy because they have an Italian name. Although, the story goes like this from the Zucchini and Summer Squash Real Food Encyclopedia. That Archeologists found seeds of zucchini in Mexican caves that were cultivated some 10,000 years ago. So the zucchini is a native food to the Americas and key staple in the indigenous diets.
Today it is marveled in most gardens at how many and how large zucchini’s can get. That makes this vegetable a must for large families. Plus, lets not forget that it is called by another name “courgette” meaning in some countries, calling it a gourde. But! It is actually a member of the cucumber family. Interesting!
How To Cut A Large Curved Zucchini In Half For Zucchini Boats
When you grow your own garden you can get strange shaped vegetables. Sometimes the vegetables grow curved. So, how to cut a curved zucchini in half?
Clean and wash the zucchini and cut off both ends. Being that this is a large zucchini and curved I start cutting the vegetable at the narrow end. Cut up the middle on the inside of the bend. Hold the tip of the curved large side upward because this helps to lay the side I am cutting flat on the cutting board. Take your knife and direct it as strait as you can directly down the middle and cut. Continue cutting a little at a time inward towards the fat end of the zucchini. As you get closer to the end it will be easier to fallow your large knife through to complete the cut.
How To Make Vegan Mediterranean Stuffed Zucchini Boats
First prepare the quinoa for the Vegan Mediterranean Stuffed Zucchini Boats. This will help with timing as you start prepping the zucchini and other vegetables. Take the cut zucchini and with a spoon carve out the seeds and flesh inside the zucchini creating a ditch throughout the vegetable. This is where the filling will go. Cut up a half cup of the filling that you carved out into little chunks. These will be cooked up latter.
Prepare the zucchini with covering the hollowed out portion with olive oil and sprinkling black pepper, garlic powder and sea salt inside of it. Like the picture below.
Pre-heat the oven for 375 degrees.
Next clean and prep the garlic, onion, fresh thyme and chop the sun-dried tomatoes and drain the chick peas. On medium heat in a large skillet sauté in olive oil the garlic, onions, chopped zucchini and sun-dried tomatoes until the onions are soft. Then add the chick peas, fresh thyme, capers, Sea salt, and ground black pepper and mix together. Take off the heat. Then add the quinoa and 1/3 cup of chopped vegan smoked provolone cheese. Mix this all together and then fill the zucchini boats.
How To Bake Vegan Mediterranean Stuffed Zucchini Boat
Put the stuffed zucchini in an oiled baking dish. Cook at 375 degrees covered in foil and bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Take out of the oven top with extra chopped vegan smoked provolone cheese. I use Violife Smoked Provolone Slices brand for the vegan cheese in this recipes.
Keep the foil off and put back into the oven for another 10 minutes. When done take out of the oven and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes before cutting into.
Storing Vegan Mediterranean Stuffed Zucchini Boats
Keep the stuffed zucchini boats in an air tight container for up to 4 days. You can also meal prep by cooking the filling and prepping the zucchini ahead of time, then it can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
I hope you like this recipe as much as we do. Enjoy!
Vegan Mediterranean Stuffed Zucchini Boat
Equipment
- 1 Large skillet
- 1 Medium pot with lid
- 1 Sharp knife
- 1 Cutting board
- 1 Spoon, to carve out zucchini
- 1 Small sieve, to rinse quinoa
- 1 Glass baking dish, for the size of your zucchini
- 1 Basting brush, or spray oil
- 1 Set of measuring cups
- 1 Set of measuring spoons
Ingredients
Making the Quinoa
- 1 cup Water
- ⅓ cup Quinoa, rinsed under cool water
- ¼ tsp Sea Salt
Prepping The Zucchini
- Olive Oil, sprayed or brushed onto the carved out zucchini
- sprinkle Sea Salt, over the carved out zucchini
- sprinkle Ground Black Pepper, over the carved out zucchini
Zucchini Mediterranean Filling
- 1 Tbsp Olive Oil
- 2 Large cloves Garlic, minced small
- ¼ cup Yellow onion, diced small
- ⅓ cup Sun-dried tomatoes in oil
- ½ cup Zucchini, use the flesh and seeds that were carved out and cube it small
- ½ cup Chick Peas, drained
- ½ Tbsp Fresh Thyme
- 2 slices Vegan Smoked Provolone Cheese, chopped small
- 3 to 4 Tbsp Capers
Topping of Cheese To Put Back Into The Oven
- 1 to 2 slices Vegan Smoked Provolone Cheese, chopped small
- Capers
Instructions
Cooking The Quinoa
- Rinse the quinoa in a fine meshed sieve under cool water. In a medium pot boil the water then add the quinoa and sea salt. Turn down heat to medium low, cover and cook for 15 minutes. When done let stand off the heat for another 5 minutes. Fluff with fork.
- Preheat oven to 375°
Prepping The Zucchini
- Wash zucchini under cool water and dry it. Cut off the ends and cut evenly down the middle. (If your zucchini is curved follow the instructions above.)
- Scoop out the flesh and seeds of the zucchini and reserve enough for a half of a cup to chop up for stuffing mixture. Spray or bast the zucchini with olive oil. Sprinkle with garlic powder, sea salt and ground black pepper. Set aside.
Zucchini Mediterranean Filling
- In a large skillet on medium heat add the olive oil. Then add the garlic, onion, sun-dried tomatoes and chopped up reserved zucchini flesh. Cook until the onions and garlic are soft.
- Add the chic peas, fresh thyme. Mix all together, then add the cooked quinoa. Take off of the heat. Mix all together and then add the chopped vegan smoked provolone cheese and capers. Mix together again. Add to the inside of the carved out prepared zucchini boats.
- Put in a oiled glass baking dish. (This is where you can meal-prep and put it in the refrigerator to cook later) Cover with foil and put in the oven for 30 minutes.
- After baking for 30 minutes take out of the oven and take the foil off and add more vegan smoked provolone cheese.
- Put back in the oven and bake uncovered for 10 more minutes
Toppings
- When done take out of the oven and let set for 5 to 10 minutes. Add more cheese if desired and capers. Serve.
- Enjoy!
Notes