Thursday, July 26, 2007

VEGETARIAN STUFFED ZUCCHINI

As July rolls around, I get bombard-ed with zucchini and summer squash. There are many tasty squash recipes I like to experiment with. I'd like to share one of my favorites with you. I promise you and your guests will savor every bite of this summer side dish.
Try stuffing both zucchini and yellow squash for a tasty and colorful presentation. I would recommend using zucchinis between 4 and 6 inches in length, because they are more tender when small.


6 to 8 zucchini
3 large garlic cloves minced
6 washed and finely chopped bella mushrooms
1 finely chopped roma tomato
1 Tbsp fresh chopped basil
1 Tbsp fresh chopped parsley
1 Tbsp thyme
1 1/2 tsp dill weed
1 Tbsp lemon juice
3 Tbsp olive oil
1/3 cup seasoned bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated asiago cheese
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil for drizzling

Preheat oven to 425. Wash and cut the zucchini in half, lengthwise. Carefully, scrape out the middle of each half with either a grapefruit spoon, or cut middle out with a knife. Set the hollow zucchini aside and chop the middle up into small pieces, then transfer to a large bowl. Add all the rest of the ingredients to the bowl and mix well with a large spoon. After mixing everything together, stuff each half with the mixture, then place the already stuffed half in a lightly greased baking dish. When all the zucchini is stuffed, drizzle a little bit of olive oil on each half and if desired you can sprinkle lightly with more salt and pepper. Cover the baking dish and place it in the oven for 25 minutes. When the 25 minutes are up, remove the cover and continue to bake uncovered for an additional 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand 10 minutes uncovered before serving. This fresh summer side dish would pair nicely with grilled salmon and your favorite bottle of pinot noir or a chilled white wine.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Lydia,

as I already commented, this reciped of your mother's sounds great.

You are lucky to have knowledge of so many delicious Italian recipes.

You could open your own restaurant one day.

So long, Olivia

Lydia said...

thank you for the complement olivia. have a good day.

Anonymous said...

Good morning, Lydia,

did you get my last two emails?
Please let me know our know emal address.

So long,
olivia

Lydia said...

I would love to open a restuarant one day. I spent yesterday cooking up fresh green beans from my garden, along with some stuffed zucchini and meatloaf for my guests.

Lydia said...

Hello Olivia, I forgot to mention that I do have every intention of writing a cookbook one of these days, hopefully very soon. How do you go about getting work published? I am blessed to know a succesful writer such as you to get advise from. I am not a great writer, but if I sharpen up my skills maybe I can pull off a cookbook.

Anonymous said...

Hi Lydia,

writing a cookbook is a fabulous idea. You have inherited so many wonderful Italian-American recipes from your late mother that you should share them with the world. Also place some good fotos to accompany the recipes - that cookbook will sell well.

It is necessary for you to get a literary agent who is specialized in cookbooks. If you go to the US bestseller author Tess Gerritsen's blog, you will find many useful tips and a lot of know-how. Of course Tess writes thrillers, not cookbooks, but the procedure of finding an agent who will sell your manuscripts to the right publisher is the same.

Her homepage and blog:
http://www.tessgerritsen.com/blog

Also it is a good idea to have a few other persons read and correct your manuscript before it goes off to the agent. It is best to present the manuscript in faultless form. The agent does not want to have a lot of extra work with it. His/her job is to offer it to potential buyers (publishers), make the contracts for you, check the payments (that no publisher cheats you on your royalties).

The fee the agent takes here in Germany is about 15% of your royalties. It might be more in the USA. I am not sure about that. You could ask Tess Gerritsen by email or on her blog. She is a very communicative lady. Being a bestseller author she can give you some valid advice.

Have a good day,

Olivia

Lydia said...

Thanks so much for you advise Olivia. I will go on tess's sight. I am very serious about writing a good cookbook. I am also thinking about illustrating it myself. I will add both my artwork and good pics. I will soon be blogging about my art.I have to get some photos taken of some of my work then I will add them to my blog.

August 6, 2007 10:22 AM

Anonymous said...

Yes, you do that Lydia.
Illustrating your cookbook with some of your own fotos, drawings or paintings might be very welcome to your future publisher. Then he will not have to pay any extra money for the illustrator. Publishers always like to save money, if they can.

I am looking forward to seeing your artwork soon.

Thank you for commenting the dahlias on my blog.

Have a sunny day,

Olivia