Baked zucchini stuffed with tuna, capers, and parmesan

I love baked zucchini stuffed with tuna, capers, and parmesan, and on top of that, it is a recipe that serves to use up stale bread. I will also tell you right away that it is inexpensive, and even though it is a recipe with a difficulty level of almost 0, it looks very presentable aesthetically.

There are a lot of recipes for baked stuffed zucchini, but the most popular ones in Italy are divided into two groups: those stuffed with ground red meat or those with tuna as the main ingredients. Zucchini stuffed with tuna is very typical of Liguria. Its origins are very humble, as usually happens with all dishes that serve mainly to use up ingredients that are no longer at their ideal point, in this case, bread. The version I propose is surely one of the simplest.

It seemed to me that, with the heat these days, simplifying makes life doubly easier: One has less desire to complicate things at the stove, and meals that are too seasoned or a bit heavy are harder to digest. Not to mention the famous thirsty nights that one might suffer on a summer day when you have the bad idea of eating the devil’s own anchovy and a half, as a garnish on the pizza or salad of the day, from an unscrupulous restaurant. Anyway, if you want to add some black olives, some of your favorite spices, a little sautéed onion and tomato on the side, or the friendly anchovies (but not the brined ones), that’s perfect.

Baked zucchini stuffed with tuna, capers, and parmesan

Autor: La ragazza col mattarello

Número de raciones: 2

Tiempo de preparación:  10 minutos

Tiempo de cocción:  20 minutos

Tiempo total:  30 minutos

Ingredientes

• 1 large zucchini
• 50 g of thick-sliced stale bread
• 60 g of canned tuna in oil
• 1 teaspoon of canned capers in vinegar
• 1 small tip of garlic
• 1 sprig of fresh parsley
• 40 g of grated parmesan
• Virgin olive oil
• Salt

Instrucciones

1. Cut the stem off the zucchini.
2. Boil the zucchini in lightly salted water for 5 to 10 minutes, depending on whether you like your vegetables more or less cooked.
3. Soak the bread in water for 5 minutes.
4. Drain the bread well with your hands so that it loses as much water as possible.
5. Mix the bread with the tuna, 30 g of parmesan, the capers, the small tip of garlic, and a little chopped parsley until a more or less compact paste is formed.
6. Taste and adjust salt, oil, or vinegar if necessary.
7. Grease the tray you will use to gratin the zucchini with a little olive oil.
8. Cut the zucchini in half, from top to bottom, and empty the part containing the seeds with a knife, very carefully, so as not to pierce it completely or leave the zucchini without flesh: as if you wanted to make little boats.
9. Fill the zucchini halves with the tuna paste.
10. Cover the zucchini halves with the remaining grated parmesan.
11. Bake the zucchini halves at 180 degrees, grill mode, for approx. 15 minutes, or the time necessary for them to gratin.

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