When life hands you zucchinis, you can’t just make zucchini-ade, so you might be looking for other ways to repurpose the stuff.
The “boats” in this recipe are made from zucchini coated with olive oil, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. The meatballs are made from ground beef and pork plus onions, parsley, garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, and an egg. The final ingredients needed to top off the dish are marinara sauce and mozzarella.
Ingredients
4 medium (approximately 8 inch) zucchini
1 ½ tablespoon olive oil, divided
½ teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 ½ teaspoon salt, divided
½ teaspoon black pepper, divided
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
¾ cup minced yellow onion
¼ cup finely-chopped parsley
3 garlic cloves, minced
¼ cup chopped oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
1 egg
2 cups marinara sauce
2 cups shredded mozzarella
Directions
Preheat the oven to 375 F (350 F convection).
Cut off both ends of each zucchini and slice them in half lengthwise.
Remove the cores of each zucchini and brush the insides with 1 tablespoon olive oil.
Sprinkle the zucchini with Italian seasoning, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper, and put it in a pan greased with the remaining oil.
Combine the ground meats with the onion, parsley, garlic, tomatoes, egg, and remaining salt and pepper.
Form the meat into 32 balls, approximately 1 ½ inch in diameter.
Put 4 meatballs in each zucchini.
Bake the zucchini and meatballs on the middle rack for about 20 minutes or until the meatballs look golden brown on top.
Top each zucchini boat with marinara sauce to cover the meatballs, then finish off with a layer of cheese.
Bake the zucchini boats for 15 minutes until the cheese melts, then serve immediately.