Delicious, tender, juicy, healthy, low-fat zucchini enjoys well-deserved love. If the house has at least one wonderful vegetable, you can quickly feed both the family and the surprise guests.
The number of recipes of varying degrees of complexity, in which the zucchini plays a major or minor role, is incalculable. Soups, main dishes, snacks, sandwiches, pancakes, muffins and even jam - zucchini is capable of anything.
Despite the apparent ease of handling the zucchini, it still requires respect and attention. It is especially important to know some subtleties in the heat treatment of vegetables. Modern ideas about healthy food are increasingly forcing housewives to replace roasting with baking. Baked with meat, tomatoes, onions, peppers, cheese, zucchini turns fantastic.
Zucchini with minced meat and tomatoes - the general principles of cooking
Squashes with minced meat and tomatoes were prepared by Soviet hostesses. The classic recipe from the culinary book of the 70s prescribed cutting vegetables into rings, stuffing them with minced meat and rice, frying in a frying pan, stewing in a small amount of juice and serving with slices of tomatoes.
Today, this basic recipe has dozens of variations. Squash with minced meat and tomatoes are most often baked under cheese or sour cream sauce in the oven, although this can be done in a pan or in a slow cooker.
Sweet and sour tomatoes give calm dignity neutral taste zucchini necessary sharpness, piquancy. Minced meat (mutton, beef, pork, chicken, mixed) gives a duet of vegetables not only the necessary satiety, but also a fantastic flavor. Cheese note gives creamy freshness, pepper brings a share of nobility, spices whet the appetite.
To prepare the vegetables, little effort is required. Young zucchini should be used whole, cutting off only the tips and leaving a thin peel and soft seeds. In tomatoes, you need to cut the stem or peel. Minced meat is cooked with or without rice, it can be raw or cooked from pre-boiled meat. A diverse recipe and form of serving allows you to make zucchini with minced meat and tomatoes as a solemn festive dish for guests, as well as a more modest, family version of it.
Zucchini with minced meat and tomatoes and cheese
The taste of zucchini with minced meat and tomatoes in this version of the dish is very rich. The original presentation will surprise guests and will delight the family. Squashes are quite nourishing due to pork and cheese, so they will perfectly cope with the role of the main course.
Ingredients:
• two thin long zucchini;
• large tomato;
• one hundred grams of lean pork;
• small onion or half large;
• medium carrot;
• 70 grams of hard or semi-hard cheese;
• pepper and salt to taste.
Method of preparation
Finely chop or grind pork in a meat grinder.
Finely chop the onion.
Grate carrots and cheese alternately on a fine grater.
Tomato cut into small cubes.
All the ingredients of the filling mix, pepper and salt.
Cut out the middle of the zucchini (it can be used to make zucchini fritters or vegetable soup), cut it into “tubes” 5-6 centimeters wide and fill each with minced meat.
Put squash “tubes” on the prepared baking sheet.
Bake at a temperature of 190-200 degrees for about an hour.
When serving, you can lay zucchini on lettuce leaves.
Zucchini with minced meat and tomatoes “Caucasian boats”
In the Caucasus, they literally stuff everything: grape leaves, peppers, eggplants, zucchini and even tomatoes. Zucchini with minced meat and tomatoes "Caucasian Patch" is fantastic: tender, juicy, sharp, savory. Just a holiday of some kind! Traditional lamb can be replaced with the usual beef or mix a little meat of several varieties.
Ingredients:
• kilogram zucchini;
• five tomatoes (very fleshy and ripe);
• 350 grams of lamb;
• egg;
• half a cup of rice;
• large onion;
• cilantro (can be replaced with other greens);
• dried thyme (sprig-other); • black freshly ground pepper;
• fine salt.
Cooking Method:
Boil the meat to half-cooked, pre-cut into small pieces. Cooking will take about an hour.
Cook until half cooked and rice, pouring a little less water to quickly absorb the liquid.
Zucchini cut along. Remove the inside with a spoon or knife. If the seeds are soft, the middle of the zucchini can be used for other dishes.
Thinly chop the onion, chop cilantro.
Peel tomatoes, rub through a sieve or grate on a fine grater to get a natural tomato sauce.
Remove the meat from the broth, finely chop or scroll in a meat grinder.
Mix in more often meat, onions, rice, cilantro, thyme, salt, pepper. Knead minced meat.
Stuff the “boats” made of zucchini with minced meat, filling it tightly inside.
Put the squash “boats” in a wide pan, add a little strained broth.
Pour zucchini fresh tomato sauce.
Simmer on low heat until the meat is very soft. It usually takes about 40-50 minutes.
Carefully shift the squash “boats” to the dish, decorate with greens and serve.
Separately, you can offer a sauce in which zucchini were stewed, and to it - unleavened tortillas.
Zucchini with minced meat and tomatoes “Keg with meat”
A festive feed turns this option zucchini with minced meat and tomatoes into an excellent idea for a friendly feast. However, this is a job for an experienced hostess. The squash base is cut quite thickly, stuffed with meat and baked in the oven. It is important to ensure that the zucchini is not burnt, and to ensure that they are completely roasted.
Ingredients:
• three zucchini;
• five tomatoes;
• 400 grams of lean pork;
• on the spoon of ground black and red pepper;
• salt;
• a glass of sour cream;
• 50 grams of butter.
Cooking Method:
Zucchini cut into pieces with a width of 5 centimeters, cut the middle part, rub with salt.
Finely chop the meat, pepper and fry it and fry in butter. Ten minutes for frying is enough. Grate the grated tomato and pour the meat over the tomato sauce. Simmer for about twenty minutes under a lid on medium heat.
Add sour cream to the meat, salt and simmer for another 10 minutes over low heat.
Put the squash “keg” on a piece of foil, stuff it with meat, oil the zucchini. Do the same with the rest squash "tins". Wrap the foil and bake in the oven for about half an hour at a temperature not higher than two hundred degrees.
Zucchini with minced meat and tomatoes “Magic Pizza”
“Magic pizza” of zucchini with minced meat and tomatoes - a royal gift to those who follow the figure. You can't call this dish completely dietary, but the lack of dough in itself significantly reduces the caloric content of such a “pizza”. Nothing better for a girl's party has not yet been invented!
Ingredients:
• two young zucchini weighing up to one and a half kg;
• six tomatoes;
• 400 grams of minced chicken;
• three onions;
• two tablespoons of tomato paste;
• three eggs;
• 100 grams of hard or semi-hard cheese;
• half a cup of sour cream.
Cooking Method:
Chop the onion and fry immediately.
Put onion in minced chicken, pepper, add tomato paste, salt.
Zucchini coarsely rub, salt, leave for a few minutes. Squeeze out the juice.
Cut juicy tomatoes into thin circles.
Salt eggs, add sour cream and beat.
Grease the form with a small amount of oil. Put half of zucchini mass on it, spread minced meat over zucchini, remaining zucchini on it.
Decorate the “pizza” with tomato slices, pour a mixture of eggs and sour cream, cover with grated cheese.
Bake in the oven for about forty minutes at a temperature not higher than two hundred degrees.
Zucchini with minced meat and tomatoes “Balkans”
The highlight of the dish is a spicy Bulgarian pepper, green onions and ground beef. If the turkey does not, you can use pork or beef. Convenience is that zucchini with minced meat and tomatoes, cooked according to this recipe, can be served portions. Ingredients:
• medium young zucchini with a delicate core;
• half a kilo of minced meat;
• egg;
• a pound of tomatoes;
• two bell peppers;
• greenery;
• a few feathers of green onions (if not, then an ordinary onion will do);
• ground paprika, chili, black pepper;
• salt;
• some vegetable oil;
• 50 grams of mayonnaise.
Cooking Method:
In the stuffing enter the egg, pepper, salt, herbs, onions and sliced into small pieces of Bulgarian pepper.
Zucchini cut into thin slices together with the middle.
Tomatoes, too, cut into circles. Ideally, the diameter of squash and tomato circles coincide.
Grease a baking sheet with butter, lay zucchini.
Place mince on the squash substrate, put tomatoes on top.
Bake for half an hour at 180 degrees.
Put on a platter, optionally sip some mayonnaise on top.
Zucchini with minced meat and Pirens tomatoes
A more interesting variant of zucchini with minced meat and tomatoes actually resembles small “towers”. Baked with garlic cheese, they will decorate any table.
Ingredients:
• long, rather thin zucchini;
• five tomatoes;
• 400 grams of minced meat;
• large onion;
• 150 grams of cheese;
• favorite greens (cilantro, dill, curly parsley);
• three cloves of garlic;
• a mixture of ground peppers;
• spices for vegetables and minced meat (ready mix).
Cooking Method:
Young squash together with the central part cut into circles no more than a centimeter thick.
Salt and put on a greased baking sheet.
Finely chop the onion or grate and add to the mince. Salt, add spices, pepper.
Mince beat on the board or walls of dishes, fashion flat patties to the diameter of the squash basis.
Finely grate the cheese, squeeze the garlic into it, add the finely chopped greens, mix well.
Cut tomatoes into slices.
Put the patties on the zucchini, then the tomatoes, on top - garlic cheese.
Bake in a heated oven to 200 degrees for about half an hour until fully cooked.
Zucchini with minced meat and tomatoes “Roman Holiday”
Zucchini prepared with this recipe with minced meat and tomatoes resemble “Caucasian boats,” but minced meat is used, not meat, but cereal. An excellent dish for everyday and festive table takes quite a long time to prepare, but the result is above all praise.
Ingredients:
• two small zucchini;
• a piece of lard;
• three tablespoons of olive oil;
• two bulbs;
• three cloves of garlic;
• a pound of tomatoes;
• three spoons of sour cream;
• two tablespoons of millet groats;
• greens to taste;
• a tablespoon of grated cheese;
• salt and pepper.
Cooking Method:
Tomatoes free from the skin, finely chopped.
Chop greens with a knife.
Fry the sliced lard until you get ruddy greaves. Remove them from melted fat and discard.
Finely chop the onion, chop the garlic.
Fry onion and garlic in melted fat.
Five minutes later, put tomatoes and greens in a pan to the onion, simmer for about fifteen minutes over very slow fire. The mixture should be thoroughly battered, not boiled.
Squash cut lengthwise, salt and leave.
Mix sour cream and chopped greens.
Add to the same cereal and ground cheese, mix well.
Pour the tomato sauce into the baking dish, dip the zucchini into it.
Pour zucchini sour-cereal sauce.
Bake zucchini with sauce for about half an hour at a temperature of 200 degrees.
Zucchini with minced meat and tomatoes with cream sauce
Zucchini with minced meat and tomatoes under creamy sauce is especially tender.
Ingredients:
• three medium zucchini or young zucchini;
• five tomatoes;
• a pound of ground beef;
• half a liter of heavy cream;
• two eggs.
Cooking Method:
Squash very thinly sliced, trying to make them no more than half a centimeter thicker.
Thin slices of tomatoes.
Make minced meat by adding grated onions and garlic, salt, pepper mixture, greens (optional). Grease a baking sheet with butter and put zucchini circles on it.
On top of zucchini distribute minced meat.
Put the tomatoes on the mince carefully.
Repeat layers, ending layer zucchini.
Beat the cream with the eggs, salt and pour the squash layers with a mixture.
Bake 40 minutes in the oven, preheated to 200 degrees.
Serve warm with potatoes or fresh vegetable salad.
Zucchini with minced meat and tomatoes - tips and useful tips
To remove the skin from the tomatoes, you need to incise them at the base of a crosswise and lower into boiling water for a couple of minutes. Remove tomatoes from boiling water and peel off easily.
When selecting zucchini, preference should be given to fruits weighing about 300 grams and a length of 20-30 centimeters. Such zucchini is very delicate, they do not need to remove the skin, and even the inner part with seeds is suitable for food. If the recipe requires removing the core from young zucchini, you do not need to throw it away. Fritters can be made from this part of the fruit or used for vegetable stews.
Minced meat can be replaced with cheese, ground with garlic. So the taste of the dish will be more creamy, thin, although it will lose the delicious aroma of baked meat.
To check the readiness of zucchini when baking, you need to use a fork. If the teeth freely enter the zucchini, the dish is ready.
