Stuffed Zucchini Canoe (Recipe)

I’m back from Alcatraz Prison, so I finally have some time to post another recipe (bottom). I had a good time in prison! As you can see the stage looked fantastic! Especially on the second day when a group of seagulls came searching for leftovers. The towers had some flamethrowers on them which inflamed at night. A nice setting for a decent festival!

Picture by http://www.cuttingedge.be

Most bands performed as expected or even better. Especially Death Angel and Overkill played a furious set. The first tight as hell, the second sloppy but entertaining and energetic. Accept and Queensryche proved they didn’t need their original lead singers! Todd La Tore seems to be Tate’s “voice twin” and Mark Tornillo is just the better singer… Maybe not as unique as UDO but who cares if you’re having fun.

There were only a few disappointments last weekend. Sabaton for instance couldn’t fulfill my expectationsThe new songs just can’t keep me interested but the lame interaction with the crowd just got annoying… Exactly the same as last year: “you’ve been bad I put you in the corner…” and so on… It just feels fake (this coming from a fan from the early days…). Annihilator screwed up big time by only playing two songs and leave… And last but not least.. I missed Armored Saint since I had to wait almost their entire show in a queue to get imprisoned…

For those interested in the Asaf Avidan gig. I left with a double feeling! Asaf chose to play slow and intimate songs for almost the entire set… He performed them with great care and passion. Then again I had a hard time enjoying this performance, since most of the crowd couldn’t care less and were really disrespectful… Maybe the setlist wasn’t fit for this festival where people were just waiting to hear the radio hit “One day/Reckoning Song”. After some people were shooting confetti while he played “The Labyrinth Song” it must have been hard to go on… Though Asaf got pretty annoyed he kept his cool and played on. If I was in his place I would have skipped “One Day” so they would have spend an hour of time waiting for nothing. I wouldn’t have mind. But he did play the song and got the crowd on his hand for the last two songs… A little late if you ask me…

So far for the concert reviews… I made this recipe last week to prepare for the weekend. You never know what food to find at a festival. I was glad to see another tasteful zucchini in my garden. Those following will have read I had some problems but they seem to be fixed for now! I used to make these canoes before, but this time I experimented with some toppings. I’ve tried to keep it as pure and tasteful as possible. Here’s the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 150 gr. minced pork
• 350 gr. minced veal
• a handful of green herbs
• 1 Zucchini
• 1 Sweetbell Pepper
• 1 Sicilian sausage
• Salt and pepper
• Peas
• 1 red Onion

Preparation:

Start by heating up your BBQ at 180°C (350°F). While the fire is getting hot, cut the zucchini in two parts and spoon out the seeds like this:

Once the fire is hot, put on the Sweet Bell pepper and a saucepan with the cut Sicilian sausage. The pepper must be completely black before you take it of. Put it in a bag in the refrigerator. This will help to remove the skin and improve the pepper’s taste. The sausage is ready when it has lost most of it’s oil and starts to get crunchy. Remove the crunchy parts and keep the oil. Some of the oil I spread on the zucchini and add some salt and pepper. The rest of the oil was used to prepare the peas.

Grill the zucchini for about 5-10 minutes while you mix the stuffing. You can skip this part but in my opinion the zucchini tastes better this way. The stuffing consists of the minced meat, freshly chopped green herbs, salt and pepper. You can add other ingredients (cheese, chili powder, more herbs, …) if you want but as stated before I wanted to keep this recipe pure. I rolled some sausages and put them in the canoes. I topped them with the grilled Paprika and Sicilian sausage crunch (this sausage has a subtle anise taste enhancing the meat flavours).

Now you can put them on the BBQ over indirect heat at 180°C  (350°F) until they reach an internal temp. of 70-72°C (160°F). It takes about 45 minutes. Meanwhile I prepared some peas in the Sausage oil. I added some sliced onions to the oil and let them brown for about 20 minutes before adding the peas, salt and pepper. I put them on the BBQ for another 15-20 minutes.

This is the result. Not the most clear picture… But when hungry it has to go fast. The result was good but there is room for improvement! I will use some more grilled paprika next time and maybe a little bit extra herbs to enhance the flavours even more. The italian sausage crunch was verry tasteful. Next time I’ll cut them in smaller pieces so the get spread more evenly. The zucchini and peas were really great this way!

Feel free like, share or leave a comment! You might have some good advice I could learn from or just want to share some interesting experiences.