Description
A great use of your garden zucchini by turning it into a nacho style zucchini boat. Loaded with great texture and flavor, this one will have you wanting more.
Ingredients
- 2 whole Green Zucchini, Ends Trimmed, Cut In Half, Gutted
- 3 cloves Garlic, Minced
- ½ whole Onion, Diced
- 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
- 1 pound Ground Pork
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoons Cracked Black Pepper
- ½ teaspoons Cumin Powder
- ½ teaspoons Chili Powder
- ¼ cups Panko Break Crumbs
- ½ cups Crushed Tortilla Chips, Per Zucchini
- 1-½ cup Mexican Chihuahua Cheese
- 1 cup Your Favorite Salsa (1/4 Cup Per Zucchini Half)
Preparation
Start by preparing zucchini, garlic, and onion. Reserve the guts (what you scrape out of each halved zucchini) as it will get cooked along the way.
Preheat oven 400ºF.
Heat a large skillet on medium-high heat. Add olive oil and give it a swirl. Let this come to temperature for a minute or so, then add ground pork. Leave pork untouched for a few minutes to build a light crust on the bottom of the pork, then grab your wooden spoon and start breaking up the meat.
Add onion and garlic. Give a stir and cook for about 7 minutes, stirring along the way to soften the onion and garlic, while cooking the pork. Add reserved zucchini. Stir and season with salt, pepper, and cumin.
Add breadcrumbs and stir again. Taste and season mixture with any additional salt.
To a lined baking sheet, add zucchini, hollowed side facing up. Take the pork mixture and begin filling each boat. Be generous and don’t worry if some mixture spills over. Trust me, you will scrape that up as a snack in about 25 minutes.
Once filled, top with crumbled tortilla chips, then sprinkle the chihuahua cheese over the top. Cover with foil and bake in the oven for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, remove the cover and cook another 15 minutes.
Remove from the oven and plate. Spoon your favorite salsa over the top and dig in. The zucchini boat is pretty amazing. So much where you want to keep eating, but must stop. The zucchini is not ultra tender (which we like), and the cheese and tortilla chips really just bring them over the top.
