Zucchini ‘boats’ with beef and mozzarella

What do you do when you have 500g of beef mince and a couple of zucchinis? You make zucchini boats, of course!

There are endless possibilities with this recipe. Zucchini has such a mild flavour and it goes really well with beef (or chicken or turkey or pork…) and other vegetables. I’ve topped these zucchini boats with beef mince done up like a pasta sauce and some grated mozzarella cheese.

It’s an easy recipe and one you’ll enjoy eating!

Serves 4-6.

Ingredients

• 3 medium zucchini, middle flesh scooped out

FOR THE FILLING

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 1 red capsicum, diced
• 1 medium carrot. diced
• 500g beef mince
• salt
• 1 cup marinara sauce
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated

FOR THE TOPPING

• 1 cup mozzarella, grated
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tbsp parsley

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C. Grease a 23cm x 33cm baking dish.
2. Preheat a cooking pan over medium heat and add olive oil. Add diced onion, carrot, and capsicum. (You can also chop and add the zucchini flesh scooped out of zucchini halves.) Saute until softened, about 5-7 minutes.
3. Add mince and break it up as much as you can. Season with salt and pepper and cover to cook, stirring occasionally.
4. When beef is cooked through, add marinara sauce. Mix beef, vegetables and sauce well.
5. Add grated Parmesan. Remove from heat and set aside.
6. Lay hollowed out zucchini halves side by side and season inside the boats with some salt. Stuff generously with beef filling. Spread mozzarella cheese over the top of the zucchini boats and sprinkle with oregano and parsley.
7. Bake for 20-30 minutes, depending on how soft you like your zucchini.