Mince Stuffed Zucchini

This is one way I substituted a beef Cannelloni family recipe with zucchini. Traditionally made with cannelloni pasta shells or lasagna sheets I successfully turned this into a Paleo friendly recipe. This is a two-step process of making the sauce and the mince filling. I made a bolognese sauce to add ontop of the zucchini, but you could just make a garlic and onion tomato sauce instead.

Mince Stuffed Zucchini

2015-04-17 20:29:08

Serves 4

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Sauce

1. 6 zucchini preferably straight washed and kept whole
2. 1 clove garlic crushed
3. 1/2 onion chopped finely
4. 1/2 carrot chopped finely
5. 1/2 celery stalk chopped finely
6. 375 mls of Tomato passata
7. 300 grams (0.661lbs) grassfed beef mince
8. 1 tsp oregano
9. few basil leaves
10. 1/2 Tbls sea salt
11. olive oil to coat the bottom of saucepan

Mince filling

1. 1 garlic crushed
2. 1 onion chopped finely
3. 1 carrot chopped finely
4. 1 celery stalk chopped finely
5. 500 grams (1.1lbs) of grassfed beef mince
6. 1 tsp oregano
7. few basil leaves
8. 1 tbls sea salt
9. Olive oil to coat the bottom of fry pan.

Sauce

1. Heat oil in a saucepan and add garlic and onion, cook on medium low heat until soft.
2. Add chopped carrot, celery and cook until veggies are soft then add herbs.
3. Break apart beef mince into pan and sprinkle salt on the beef, break up lumps of mince with a wooden spoon until all lumps are gone and beef is browned.
4. Stir and add tomato passata and bring to a boil. Once sauce is boiling bring the heat down to low and cover.
5. Cook for 1 hour on low heat letting the sauce simmer with lid on until the sauce thickens stirring often. Then once the oil from the meat rises to the top, turn off and set aside.

Mince filling

1. Heat oil in a fry pan or saucepan and add garlic and onion, cook on medium low heat until soft.
2. Add chopped carrot, celery and cook until veggies are soft.
3. Break apart beef mince into pan and sprinkle salt on the beef, break up lumps of mince with a wooden spoon until all lumps are gone and beef is browned.
4. Add herbs and basil then stir and cook until the fat from the beef starts to rise. Place mince mixture in a colander and let the fat strain out the bottom into a bowl. (You can use the liquid for a broth or for cooking sauce)
5. In a food processor add the mince mixture and process into a fine mince.

Zucchini

1. Cook zucchini in boiled salted water for 5 minutes then drain. Cool. Cut the zucchini in half and scoop out the flesh with a teaspoon.
2. Fill the zucchini shells with this mince mixture and arrange in a greased oven proof baking dish close together in a single layer.
3. Top each zucchini with enough sauce, you can use left over sauce for serving.
4. Bake at 170 degrees (338F) for 30 to 35 minutes until zucchini is tender.

By Marianne

Gusto Paleo http://gustopaleo.com/