WHAT TO DO WITH...

What do you do with two huge crates of zucchini varieties from your friend who is on holiday's vegetable garden? After much googling (and thinking the light green variety might actually be butternut pumpkin that wasn't ripe yet), I found out that the yellow one is called 'golden globe squash' and the light green one 'marrow'. I cooked them the same way I would cook a regular zucchini.

STUFFED ZUCCHINIS

For about 16 halves (quite a lot):

NEED:

8 zucchinis

½ cup couscous

½ cup boiling water

1 can chickpeas, drained & rinsed

1 cup peas

2-3 rashers of bacon, chopped

½ red onion, diced

tomato, chopped into small pieces

1-2 tsp ground cumin

egg

basil (chopped leaves or dried)

oil, salt & pepper

DO:

In a sealable container, add couscous, boiling water, large pinch of salt and a dash of oil and let stand, covered, for 30mins, using a fork to separate the grains after about 20 mins.

Sauté onions in oil in a large pan, then add bacon, after a minute or so add chickpeas, peas and cumin and fry.

Add couscous and tomato, stir in, then add whisked egg to bind mixture.

Meanwhile, bring large pot of water to the boil then add zucchinis, parboiling for about 5 minutes (be careful not to overcook as they still need to go in the oven).

Take zucchinis out of the water, slice each lengthways, then scoop out seeds (I used an apple corer which worked quite well).

Put the stuffing in the zucchinis (can also sprinkle parmesan over if you wish) and bake in 180°C oven for about 15 minutes.

PULLED ZUCCHINI BUNS

NEED/DO:

Slice 1 zucchini using a vegetable peeler and fry in a pan with ¼ of a finely sliced red onion, chopped small clove of garlic, salt & pepper. Spread both sides of toasted bun with basil pesto, add half the zucchini slices and top with shaved pecorino or parmesan. Makes 2.

Any other suggestions what I could do with the remaining box? Rattatouille first came to mind but after reading this recently, the idea of using tinned tomatoes didn't seem all that appealing.

Hope 2012 has been kind to you so far!