Last Night's Dinner 22

A One Pot Stuffed Courgette with Feta and Steamed Tomato Rice (And before you think no way am I hollowing out a courgette on a weeknight, other options are available).

This one is the result of buying things on a whim. I was doing my usual weekly thing of buying large bunches of herbs at one of the international grocers on Uxbridge Road the other day when I saw that they had trays of hollowed out courgettes for stuffing. They were beautifully prepared and they were the flecked, pale matt green sort I really love - creamy and relatively firm fleshed - so I bought them, thinking they would make an easy dinner.

Usually when I stuff courgettes I cut them lengthways and just scoop out the seeds - so that way they I suppose they are topped more than stuffed. And you could do that with this dish - just lay them on top of the rice. But they are quite easy to prepare for stuffing this way too - you can use a corer, or cut round with a serrated knife and scoop out the centre with a melon baller or teaspoon. Or top and tail and use a very long slender life - for example a filleting knife works really well if you have a steady hand. It does take longer, obviously, which is why stuffing a courgette isn’t high on my list of quick weekday meals. So I’m going to say right now that if you want to cook something similar which is much faster to prep, you can use small bell/romano peppers - or large chilli peppers - in place of the courgettes. Or relatively firm tomatoes. They will work on the same timings. I have not tried with marrows, for one simple reason (apart from the fact that I don’t really like them). Even after salting, a marrow will leach out way too much water into the rest of the dish and you will likely end up with a soggy pilaf instead of the fluffiness the rice should expect and deserve. You can steam stuffed marrow if you like, just don’t inflict it on the poor rice.

Often when I am messing around in the kitchen I often don’t know where I am going with the recipe until I actually do it. I knew I was going to stuff the courgettes with lamb mince, but hadn’t decided whether to steam them, or cook them in a tomato sauce, or whether to put rice or another grain into the stuffing or to cook the grain separately as a pilaf or with the courgettes studded into it. In the end, after I had made the filling I went for the ease of a one pot.

You can of course keep the courgettes separate and just cook with some tomatoes around them, or sit in a slick of olive oil and cook for the same length of time as below. Then they make a very good supper dish with a salad, or a herb flecked bulgar wheat, or part of a meze type spread.

As I was writing this, it struck me that I was posting two recipes using lamb mince in a row - but that that isn’t necessarily a bad thing because this is yet another use for last week’s lamb and lentil ragu batch cook. Just take a portion and add the seasoning you like and the breadcrumbs and nuts just to lighten/sweeten it up a bit. And just like last week’s recipe, you can substitute the lamb for lentils to make the dish vegetarian.

Stuffed Courgettes and Feta

For the filling:

1 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 tsp cumin seeds

200g lamb mince (or any mince you like)

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped

1 tbsp harissa paste or 2 tsp tomato puree with 1 tsp hot sauce

1 tbsp preserved lemon, finely chopped

1 tsp dried mint

zest and juice of 1/2 lemon

25g dry breadcrumbs

2 tbsp pine nuts or pistachios (optional)

A few sprigs parsley, finely chopped

4-5 medium courgettes, trimmed, halved and cored

For the main dish:

2 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 tsp cumin seed

1/2 tsp cinnamon

200g tomatoes, pureed (fresh or tinned, I used fresh cherry)

250g basmati rice, well rinsed (very important, do not stint on this)

375ml stock or water

200g feta, roughly broken up

A few sprigs of parsley and mint, finely chopped

Lemon wedges to serve