Greek Stuffed Zucchini Stew In Egg Lemon Sauce Food

GREEK STUFFED ZUCCHINI STEW (IN EGG & LEMON SAUCE)

Steps:

• Cut off the tops and bottoms of the zucchinis. Rinse them well and then cut them in half about 2,5 inch / 7cm each piece.
• Using an apple corer, remove most of the insides of the zucchini. Creating 1 cm / 0.4 inch thick cylinders.
• Prepare the filling in a bowl by mixing together the ground beef, red onion, spring onion, parsley, dill, rice, and the 3 tablespoons of olive oil. Season the mixture with kosher salt and freshly ground pepper. Knead the mixture for 2 minutes.
• Start filling the zucchinis by pressing the ground beef mixture into the hole with your finger. Press on both openings to make sure there aren't any air gaps left, inside the zucchini.
• Place the stuffed zucchinis tightly together, inside a cooking pot or stockpot.
• Pour in enough water to cover, and heat over medium-high heat.
• Once the water starts to boil, skim off the foam that will form on the surface. Then reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer covered for about 1 hour.
• Once the water has reduced to almost half, turn of the heat.
• Start making the sauce. In a small saucepan, whisk together the flour and olive oil to create a thick flour paste. Heat mixture over high heat and cook for 2 minutes. Then using a ladle, start adding spoonfuls of the water from the pot with the zucchinis, into the flour mixture. Keep whisking and adding spoonfuls, until you have incorporated at least 2/3 of the water.
• In a mixing bowl whisk the eggs until slightly foamy. Take a spoonful of the sauce you've just made and very slowly (threadlike) pour it into the eggs while you whisk the eggs constantly. Keep doing this until all the sauce is into the eggs. Pour in the lemon juice + zest as well. Then transfer everything back to the pot with the zucchinis.NOTE: Place a wet sponge cloth under the bowl with the eggs so it will stay in place while you whisk the eggs.
• Shake the pot for the sauce to spread evenly. Turn heat to low, taste the sauce and add extra salt or pepper if needed. Cook for 2-3 minutes for the sauce to combine with the zucchinis.
• Remove from heat and ideally let the food stand for 30 minutes before serving. Then serve with a bit of extra fresh dill on top, freshly ground pepper and a few drops of lemon if you like.

GREEK STUFFED ZUCCHINI (KOLOKITHAKIA YEMISTA AVGOLEMONO)

Steps:

• Cut zucchini into 1/2s or 1/3s, cored on one end (the other end is left intact) and remove filing carefully with corer so that a not-too-thick wall of zucchini remains to contain the filling, keep 1/2 the zucchini flesh removed from the coring, minced (not the shells- but the actual part of the zucchini that was removed, the other half makes a lovely omelette with a bit of parmesan for another meal!).
• You can prepare your zucchini from the previous day and keep, wrapped, in the refrigerator- this actually makes a lot less work on the day of preparation as it's the coring of the zucchini that takes up the most time.
• Mix the meats, onion, garlic, rice, parsley and zucchini in a bowl and season to taste with salt and pepper.
• Stuff this mixture into the opening of the one end of each zucchini piece and make sure the filling goes all the way into the vegetable.
• Level opening neatly so that no filling comes out.
• Layer the filled zucchini pieces in a big pot and add enough boiling water to just cover.
• Put in the stock cubes and the butter and cover.
• Simmer for 45 minutes to 1 hour (knife tip should slip into a piece easily), and take off heat.
• Carefully remove the zucchini pieces with a slotted spoon and place on a reheatable serving dish.
• Strain the cooking liquid left in the pot to remove any pieces of zucchini or grains of rice that may be floating around.
• In a large bowl, whisk the eggs with the cornstarch and lemon juice (add the juice of 1 lemon at this point).
• Slowly ladle in (literally the thinnest of streams) your hot cooking liquid, whisking the eggs all the while so they don't curdle.
• Keep doing this till nearly all the cooking liquid has been used and then pour your egg mixture and any cooking liquid left back into the pot and heat on a low flame until the sauce has thickened.
• Taste, if it needs more lemon, add up to 1/2 more.
• This is what is called an'Avgolemono Sauce' (Egg-lemon Sauce)- it is delicious.
• When ready to serve, put 2-3 piping hot pieces of the stuffed zucchini on each plate and nap with the sauce.
• Serve with feta cheese on the side (you won't believe how good a nibble of feta tastes with each bite of this!), good, crusty bread (you want to get all the sauce), and wine.