Zucchini Boats - Zucchini stuffed with Ground Chicken

I had been staring all morning at the 3 zucchinis I had in the vegetable basket for past one week, trying to think what to make with those. I usually just saute or bake zucchinis with minced garlic and olive oil but this time I wanted to so something different. And lo and behold, my friend posts this recipe in her blog. Inspired by it (hers was the vegetarian version), I set out to make some but I stuffed my boats with minced chicken instead of mushroom. The tricky part was scooping out the zucchinis - since I did not have a melon baller, I improvised and scored the zucchinis with a paring knife and then scooped out using a stainless steel measuring spoon (I used the 1/2 tsp spoon).

Ingredients:

• 3 zucchinis, preferably thinner ones
• 1/2 Green Bell Pepper - diced
• 1/2 Red Bell Pepper- diced
• 1 medium onion - finely chopped
• 5 cloves of garlic - minced
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• A dash of hot sauce (or more if want it more hot) - I used Frank's hot sauce
• 1/2 Cup of Shredded Cheese - I used mild cheddar and Monterey Jack (you can use your favorite)
• Ground Chicken - I had about 3/4 cups of it at home
• 1tbs oil for cooking the stuffing and some more for drizzling on top of the boats
• 1/3rd cup of bread crumbs
• 1 egg

I halved the zucchinis lengthwise and scooped out the flesh and arranged those on a cookie sheet lined with aluminium foil. Heated oil in a pan, added onion, garlic and fried till fragrant.Added ground chicken and cooked till it browned.

Added green and red bell peppers, scooped out zucchini, salt and pepper and cooked till the water evaporated.

Preheated the oven to 350F (180C). In a bowl added the cooked stuffing, the bread crumbs, the egg - lightly beaten, hot sauce and mixed well. Spooned the mixture into the zuchhini boats and topped them with the shredded cheese. Drizzled oil on the boats and baked those for about 20-25 minutes.

These were so filling that we had 2 boats each for dinner and was done.