Baked Zucchini with Beef

Preparing the meat and vegetables

The ideal cookware for baked zucchini with beef is a ceramic or clay pan with a lid. It heats the vegetables and meat evenly and keeps them from burning. Use only young zucchini, so you will not need to peel them. Do not hold back on the onion and pepper, they only improve the flavor and aroma. The fresh chili can go in whole. Fans of spicy food will approve, and it will not make the dish hot.

1. Cut and marinate the meat. Use lean beef or veal, and remove any visible fat or connective tissue. Shoulder or round works very well. Keep only the flesh and cut it into fairly large pieces. Put the meat in a bowl, season well with salt and ground black pepper, add 0.5 tsp of sweet paprika, then stir and leave for 15 mins.

   By the way, I use my favorite meat seasoning of my own making. It contains the same main spices.

   

2. Prepare the clay baking dish: pour warm water into it so that it soaks into the pores, and leave it while you cut the vegetables.

3. Cut the zucchini. Wash and dry the zucchini, and trim the ends. Young ones are usually not very big, so you can cut them into 1.5-2 cm thick “coins”. If they are wide, cut them in half. Put the zucchini in a deep bowl.

   

4. Cut the pepper and onion and mix them with the zucchini and meat. Remove the seeds from the bell pepper and cut it into thin rings or strips, however you like. Peel the onion and cut it into thick strips along the bulb. Do not slice it too thin, or it will fall apart during cooking. Put all the vegetables in the bowl with the zucchini and stir. You can add a little of the same spices you used for the meat. Add the beef to the vegetables and mix well. Add 1 tbsp of vegetable oil and stir once more.

   

Baking

5. Put everything into the dish and place it in a cold oven. Pour the water out of the baking dish and wipe it dry. Add the prepared zucchini, vegetables and meat, and level them into an even layer. On top, put whole, undamaged hot chili pods and a head of garlic cut in half across the cloves. Cover the dish with the lid and put it in the cold oven. Only then turn the heat on to 200 °C. Ceramic does not like sudden temperature changes, so it should heat up together with the oven.

   

6. Bake covered for about 45 mins, allowing for the oven to heat up and for the volume of food. By then the meat and all the vegetables should be almost done: the vegetables al dente and the meat cooked through. Note that no liquid is added to the dish, because the zucchini and other vegetables release plenty.

   

7. Remove the lid, add the tomato and bake for another 15-20 mins. Gently stir the meat and zucchini, then cut a fresh ripe tomato into wedges and arrange them over everything. Return the dish to the oven without the lid for the final bake. The dish is very hot, so be careful and use oven mitts.

   

Serving

8. Serve in the same ceramic or clay dish the food was cooked in. Spoon it onto plates. The pieces are all large, so everyone can decide how much of each they want. Sprinkle the vegetables and meat with finely chopped green onion or cilantro, and it will taste great. Eat while everything is hot.

   

   The special flavor of this dish comes from the head of garlic and the chili. Their taste does not blend into the zucchini, vegetables and meat. So if you like spicy food, this is a pleasant bonus, and you can treat them as a side dish.