The mother of all zucchini

I fell out of the blogging loop for a few days, due to an unexpected and last-minute trip to New York City. (I'm not complaining, though!) This is what I wanted to blog about on Monday...

During June, a small new farmer's market opened here in Syracuse, right in our own neighborhood! Even though it's still very small, Daiku and I were excited to go check it out and support local (very local) farmers and organizations. (Read another Syracuse blogger's report on the Eastside farmer's market here)

And look what we found!

The mother of all zucchini! The guy selling them assured us that they would taste great and that all we had to do was scrape the seeds out. We bought it mostly for novelty value, but when we cooked it up it turned out to be very tasty indeed!

Here's the recipe for stuffed zucchini. Go to a farmer's market and find the most comically large zucchini possible and make this! Well, you can also make it with 4 regular-sized zucchini too.

Daiku's Middle-Eastern Stuffed Zucchini

Spice mixture:

(Daiku created this spice mixture, going for a middle eastern flavor. Experiment and vary the amounts of spices to taste)

1 tsp. black peppercorns
4 allspice berries
4-5 cloves
fenugreek
ginger
cinnamon

• grind together and toast briefly in pan

Stuffing:

olive oil
1 tsp. red pepper
1/2 small onion
2-3 garlic cloves or garlic scapes, chopped finely
3 soyboy sausage links, chopped up
spice mixture from above
1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes
1/2 - 1 cup kidney beans
dash sour grape powder
salt to taste
1 cup water
3/4 cup whole wheat couscous
2-4 TB toasted pinenuts

(our garlic scapes have bloomed! Is that bad...?)

• Pre-heat oven to 350
  
• Heat oil in a heavy-bottomed pan, add red pepper flakes and heat through to bring out flavor
• Add the onion and sautee 3-5 minutes until translucent. Add sausage and garlic and sautee together with onions to combine
• Add spice mixture, tomatoes, salt and sour grape powder, allow to heat through
  
• After 5-10 minutes, add water and couscous, cover and take pan off from heat

• Meanwhile, cut your giant zucchini open and scrape out the seeds, making room for the filling

• Stuff zucchini with mixture, patting down to pack it in if necessary. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 35-45 minutes. Take foil off and bake another 5 minutes. Top with pine nuts and eat!
  

Enjoy the freakishly abundant produce of summer!

The mother of all zucchini