Zucchini Boats with Bacon Baked under a Cheese Crust

Name: Zucchini Boats with Bacon and Cheese Crust
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 1 h
Cuisine: European
Ingredients: Young zucchini 2; Bacon or pork belly 100 g; Vegetable oil 1 tbsp; Onion 1; Hard cheese 50 g; Dill 4-5 sprigs; Lettuce for serving; Black pepper to taste

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In vegetable season it is very easy and convenient to cook zucchini with meat, and I really love dishes like this. The idea is to fill zucchini halves with a mix of fried onion and meat: bacon, ham, sausages, chicken and so on. After baking, the zucchini are sprinkled with grated cheese and returned to the oven. Once a golden crust forms, the dish is ready to serve, and it works equally well as a main course or an appetizer.

Young zucchini are best for stuffing and baking. First, while they are young, the seeds are barely noticeable because they haven’t formed yet. Second, the flesh is very tender and cooks quickly, which matters so that the filling and cheese don’t overcook. And third, young baked zucchini are usually small and perfect for individual servings.

To make baked zucchini with meat and cheese, cut small zucchini lengthwise and scoop out the part of the flesh that contains the seeds, even if they haven’t formed yet. This makes a cavity for the filling. Then the filling goes into the zucchini, and they bake until almost done. At the very end, the filling is sprinkled with cheese and the zucchini go back into the oven briefly.

For the filling you can use any meat that turns soft when fried. Beef is a bit tricky, as it can stay quite firm and tough after frying. The best results come from chicken or pork bacon, pork belly, ham, and also sausages, and it turns out very tasty.

Shops sell excellent lightly smoked pork belly that tastes like fatty ham. With pork belly, the zucchini with meat turn out juicy and soft, and you don’t need to add any fat.

Zucchini baked with cheese and meat cook quickly, so you can make them shortly before dinner. They need very little hands-on time. The finished dish can be served with mashed potatoes or roasted vegetables, and it also makes an excellent hot appetizer to go with an aperitif. For the filling you can use a semi-hard cheese, which melts and blends into the meat filling rather than forming a cheese crust.

More with bacon and cheese

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Ingredients

2 servings

Young zucchini 2
Bacon or pork belly 100 g
Vegetable oil 1 tbsp
Onion 1
Hard cheese 50 g
Dill 4-5 sprigs
Lettuce for serving
Black pepper to taste

Step-by-step recipe

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Zucchini boats

It is best to take young zucchini that aren’t too large, so they fit in the baking dish. If the seeds have already formed, it is hard to bake the zucchini until soft, which takes time. You may have to bake them without the filling first, and only then fill them and bake again. Which meat to choose is up to you. I prefer cured pork belly or a similar product.
Wash the vegetables well and cut off the stem. If there are any spoiled spots on the surface, it is better to cut them off.
With a sharp knife, cut the zucchini in half lengthwise.
Using a teaspoon or a small knife, scoop out the halves, removing the part that contains the seeds. Leave 1-2 tbsp of the flesh, which will go into the filling. You should end up with a “boat.”
Brush the green skin of the zucchini with a small amount of vegetable oil, just a trace.

Filling

Preheat the oven to 190-200°C. It will have time to heat up while the filling is cooking.
Peel and finely chop the onion.
Heat a little vegetable oil in a saucepan and fry the onion over medium heat until soft and just starting to turn golden. Don’t overfry the onion, or the zucchini with meat will have a noticeable aftertaste.
Cut the bacon, pork belly or whichever meat you chose into cubes, the size you would cut for Olivier salad or smaller.
Reduce the heat to medium-low. Add the diced meat to the onion and fry for 4-5 mins, stirring constantly. Season the onion and meat with pepper. If you use ready-to-eat pork belly, it is probably better not to salt the filling.
Finely chop the reserved 1-2 tbsp of zucchini flesh and add it to the meat. Fry for 1-2 mins.

Baking

Place the zucchini halves in a baking dish with the scooped-out cavity facing up.
Spoon the filling into the zucchini halves and press it down lightly. If you used chicken or sausages for the meat filling, brush the filling with a little vegetable oil.
By the way, if there is any filling left over, make yourself a great sandwich and eat it with a glass of tomato juice.
Put the dish in the preheated oven. After 20 mins the zucchini will be soft and easy to pierce with a knife. If needed, you can add time to make sure they are fully cooked. Take the dish out of the oven.
Grate the hard or semi-hard cheese and sprinkle it generously over the filling.
Some cheeses barely spread when heated and form a cheese crust. Others melt and blend into the filling. Either kind works.
Return the dish to the oven. The cheese melts very quickly, and in just 4-5 mins the dish is fully ready. If you want a nice golden cheese crust, you can leave the zucchini in the oven a little longer, but don’t overdo it.

Serving

If you serve the dish as an appetizer, let it cool a little so it doesn’t burn your mouth.
Arrange lettuce leaves on a plate and place the baked zucchini on top.
Finely chop the dill and sprinkle it over the dish before serving.
If you want to serve this as a main course, I suggest mashed potatoes, the best side dish. Stewed or roasted vegetables also work well.

Calories and macros

410 kcal

Serving ≈ 390 g

Protein17 g17% of kcal
Fat33 g74% of kcal
Carbs10 g10% of kcal

100 g106 kcalProtein 4.3 gFat 8.5 gCarbs 2.5 g

Calculated from the recipe ingredients, excluding salt and spices. Data: USDA and Matvaretabellen.

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