Last night’s dinner included locally-grown, stuffed, round zucchini. I sliced the tops off and scooped out the innards, setting them aside for the stuffing. They roasted in the oven at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

The stuffing was made from about a pound of ground turkey and one Gianelli Sweet Italian sausage patty, because we all need a little more Gianelli in our belly. The ground turkey took on the sausage flavor quite well, making a meat filling that tasted nicely sausage-y without so much fat and calories. It was fairly mild, but you could adjust the amount of sausage to your liking.

After the meat was browned, I added the zucchini back in, after chopping it into small chunks and salting it and then draining some of the juice out. I let this cook down, adding salt and pepper to taste, as well as basil and oregano. I didn’t drain off any of the fat from the sausage, instead letting the fat (aka flavor) soak into the ground turkey. Near the end, I added some tomato paste (I really like the Amore tubes) to add a little tomato flavor and to bring everything together a bit more by thickening up some of the remaining juices.

The amount of filling I made would fill roughly four of the round zucchinis. We just had two, so I’m saving the rest for omelettes or additions to macaroni. The roasted zucchini was nicely tender and sweet. I kind of felt bad chopping up the squat little guy, but it was just easier to eat that way.