Ottolenghi’s Stuffed Zucchini with Pine Nut Salsa

These stuffed zucchini, adapted from a recipe in Ottolenghi Simple by Yotam Ottolenghi, are the best use of overgrown squash I’ve come across so far. (Larger zucchini are preferred for the dish, as they hold their shape better when you hollow them out.) Filled with a rich, savory stuffing that combines bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, egg, garlic and squished cherry tomatoes with zucchini flesh, these zucchini boats are roasted in a hot oven, then topped with an unusual salsa starring a lot of fresh, finely chopped oregano plus lemon and pine nuts.

After we made and enjoyed this dish, we realized we screwed up an instruction, and unwittingly neglected to stir half of the pine-nut-and-oregano salsa into the stuffing. Therefore we had twice as much salsa to top them with as we were meant to (which is reflected in our photograph). In any case, the dish was a knockout; perhaps it was a happy mistake. We have since tried it the originally intended way and enjoyed that, too, but we find our accidental everything-on-top tweak to be a happy improvement.

We featured the recipe in an August 2020 story about zucchini, and wrote about it in a February 2021 review of Ottolenghi Simple.

Serves two as a main course or four as a side.

Ingredients

2 large zucchini (about 1 pound, 2 ounces), halved lengthwise

1/2 garlic clove, minced

1 large egg, beaten

1 1/2 ounces Parmesan, finely grated

Scant 1 cup fresh sourdough breadcrumbs, or packaged breadcrumbs or panko

Salt

3 1/2 ounces cherry tomatoes, quartered

1 large lemon: to get 2 teaspoons of finely grated zest and 1 tablespoon of juice

1/4 cup finely chopped oregano leaves, plus a few more to serve

Mounded 1/4 cup pine nuts, lightly toasted

3 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions

1. Heat the oven to 475 degrees F. Use a small spoon to hollow out the flesh of the zucchini, reserving the flesh, and make them into the shape of canoes. Don’t scrape them out completely, though — you want the sides to be about 1/2 inch thick and the zucchini should still hold their shape. Put the flesh in a sieve and squeeze and discard as much liquid as you can — you should be left with about 1 cup of zucchini flesh. Roughly chop it, place in a medium bowl and add the garlic, egg, Parmesan, breadcrumbs or panko and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Use your hands to crush the tomatoes well, then add these to the zucchini mixture. Stir to combine and set aside.

2. In a separate small bowl, mix the lemon zest, chopped oregano and pine nuts. Set aside.

3. Place the hollowed zucchini in a medium baking sheet or ovenproof dish, hollowed side facing up. Drizzle 1 tablespoon of oil (in total) over the zucchini and season with 1/8 teaspoon salt (in total). Spoon the zucchini mixture back into the hollow and bake for about 20 minutes, until the filling is set and golden brown.

4. While the zucchini are baking, make the salsa. Add the lemon juice, remaining 2 tablespoons oil and 1/8 teaspoon salt to the bowl of oregano and pine nuts. Let the zucchini cool a little. Spoon the salsa on top, sprinkle with the oregano leaves and serve.

Recipe notes

• The original recipe did not mention panko or packaged breadcrumbs; it called specifically for fresh sourdough breadcrumbs. We have used both store-bought breadcrumbs and panko instead, and it was splendid. When and if we try again with fresh sourdough crumbs, we will report whether we noticed much difference.

• The original recipe called for baking for 15 minutes, which wasn’t nearly long enough. Our two slightly smaller halves were done after about 20, and the larger halves required 2 or 3 additional minutes.

More Ottolenghi recipes you may enjoy:

RECIPE: Ottolenghi’s Chickpeas and Swiss Chard with Yogurt

RECIPE: Ottolenghi’s Puy Lentils and Eggplant

RECIPE: Showstopper Rolled Pavlova with Peaches and Blackberries

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