Stuffed Courgette Boats with Mince & Kashkaval

45 min · Easy · Serves 1

670 kcal per serving · 36g protein

The Balkan stuffed-vegetable idea with the rice left out, so the courgette does the job of the starch. The scooped courgette flesh goes back into the mince with tomato paste, paprika and chubritsa, and nothing is wasted. A lid of kashkaval melts and browns over each boat in the final bake.

Ingredients

• Large courgette (about 250 g) × 1
• 1 tbsp Olive oil
• 2 g Salt
• 130 g Minced meat (pork, or pork and beef mix)
• Spring onion, thinly sliced × 1
• 1 clove Garlic clove, crushed
• 1 tsp Tomato paste
• 0.5 tsp Sweet paprika
• 0.5 tsp Chubritsa (dried savory)
• 0.5 g Black pepper
• 40 g Kashkaval, grated
• 3 g Fresh parsley, chopped

Method

1. Hollow the courgette

   

   Heat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan). Halve the courgette lengthways and scoop out the soft centre with a teaspoon, leaving a 1 cm shell, then chop the scooped courgette flesh.

2. Pre-bake the courgette shells

   

   Set the courgette shells cut-side up in a baking dish, brush with half the olive oil, season with half the salt and bake for 10 minutes, until the courgette shells just start to soften.

3. Brown the minced meat

   

   While the courgette shells bake, heat the remaining olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat, add the minced meat and cook for 5 minutes, breaking the mince up with a spoon, until browned with no pink left.

4. Build the mince filling

   

   Add the sliced spring onion, crushed garlic, chopped courgette flesh, tomato paste, paprika, chubritsa, remaining salt and black pepper to the mince and cook for 4 minutes, until the courgette flesh softens and the mince filling looks dry.

5. Fill the courgette boats

   

   Spoon the mince filling into the softened courgette shells, pressing the filling down lightly, and cover each courgette boat with the grated kashkaval.

6. Bake until golden

   

   Bake the filled courgette boats for 15 minutes, until the kashkaval is melted, bubbling and golden at the edges.

7. Rest and serve

   

   Rest the courgette boats for 3 minutes, then scatter with the chopped parsley and serve.