Recipe Share: Sausage Stuffed Zucchini Boats

My sister introduced me to this delicious Nancy Fuller recipe. It was so tasty and pretty quick to throw together. I made a few tweaks to it, but mostly followed the recipe. 

Ingredients: 

4 medium zucchini, cut lengthwise

1 Tbsp. olive oil

8 ounces sweet loose Italian sausage

8 ounces hot loose Italian sausage (I used 16 oz. of all sweet Italian sausage and squeezed it out of the links, since that's the only kind I could find.)

1 clove garlic, minced

1 small onion, chopped

2 medium vine-ripened tomatoes, chopped (I just used about 1/2 cup of marinara sauce)

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1/2 C. Parmesan, finely grated

1/2 C. mozzarella, shaved

1/4 C. breadcrumbs (I used Italian seasoned panko breadcrumbs)

2 Tbsp. chopped fresh parsley (I prefer flat leaf parsley)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 

With a teaspoon, scoop out the flesh from the inside of the zucchini, so they look like boats. Place the boats in a 9x13 inch casserole dish. Chop the zucchini flesh and set aside. (I probably only used half of my zucchini flesh, as a few of my kids aren't huge fans of zucchini.) 

Heat a medium saute pan to medium high. Add olive oil and allow to heat up. Add the sausage and cook for 4 minutes. Add the garlic, onion, chopped zucchini flesh, tomatoes (or sauce), salt and pepper. Cook until softened, about 4 more minutes. (My mixture took a little longer than this to fully cook through and soften up.)

In a medium bowl, add the Parmesan, mozzarella, breadcrumbs and parsley. Mix together. Spoon the sausage mixture into the zucchini boats, then sprinkle the cheese/breadcrumb mixture over the top. Place in the oven and bake until golden, about 20 minutes.

Enjoy!