Zucchini papoutsakia (stuffed zucchini boats with meat sauce and bechamel over roasted potatoes)
Dimitra's Dishes · ♥ 575 likes · 14.1K views · 10 min video
Read about ground beef in the BrightCulinary Book
Timestamp
Ingredients
Method
Techniques
- 4–5 whole russet potatoes
- olive oil
- salt
- pepper
- zucchini
Peel the potatoes, cut into thick slices, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and roast 15 minutes until partly tender and colored (the oven is 'still at 425 degrees Fahrenheit' at 2:15).
Trim the zucchini, halve lengthwise and scoop out the centers with a mini scoop, leaving a border; save the pulp.
Set the zucchini on the potatoes in the tray, drizzle with olive oil, salt lightly and bake at 425F about 8 or 9 minutes until starting to soften.
Roughly chop the zucchini pulp, smaller than shown so it breaks down faster.
- 1 whole onion
- 3–4 tbsp olive oil
Cook the onion in the olive oil with a little salt until golden and soft, about 8 minutes.
- 1 lb ground beef
Add the ground beef, break it up, and season with salt, black pepper and red pepper flakes.
- freshly cracked black pepper
- crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 can crushed tomatoes
Add the zucchini pulp and crushed tomatoes and cook over medium heat until thick with no liquid left, about 25 minutes (15 to 20 planned).
Simmering the sauce thick
- 1 tsp dried oregano
Taste and adjust the salt; stir in the dried oregano at the end so it does not turn bitter, and the parsley.
- fresh parsley
- ¼ cup olive oil
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
For the bechamel, cook the oil and flour in a saucepan on medium, whisking, until toasted, 2 to 3 minutes.
- 2 cup whole milk
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- shredded Parmesan cheese
Add the cold milk, season with a little salt, black pepper and the nutmeg, and whisk constantly over medium heat until it boils; take off the heat as it thickens.
- 2 whole whole eggs
Beat the eggs, temper with some of the hot sauce, then whisk them back into the sauce; stir in the Parmesan.
Fill the zucchini boats with the meat sauce and pour the bechamel over each.
Lower the oven to 400F and bake on the center rack, uncovered, until golden and the zucchini is fork tender, about 40 minutes planned, a little under an hour in practice.