I love courgettes and I’m always looking for new courgette recipes. Stuffed vegetables like courgettes, peppers or tomatoes are a very Mediterranean style of cooking and very healthy (as well as cheap, fresh and easy).

Usually rice or cous cous would be used as part of the stuffing but I used borlotti beans as the main bulk ingredient, and included pine nuts and sunflower seeds for a bit of crunch. This is a vegan recipe but cheese would make a nice addition. You could use more or less anything you had in stock – any pulses/beans, bread crumbs, nuts, peppers or tomatoes.

Simplicity is the key here – using just a small list of ingredients keeps everything really easy. A portion of three courgette halves was filling enough as a main course just served with a cucumber, rocket and mint salad.

Serves two.

Ingredients

• 3 largish courgettes
• 2 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 tin of borlotti beans, drained
• 2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
• 2 tablespoons pine nuts
• Olive oil for cooking
• Salt and black pepper

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C.
2. Wash and dry the courgettes and cut each one in half. Use a teaspoon to scoop out the courgette flesh and leave to one side. Brush (or spray) olive oil on each half of courgette, place on a baking tray lined with greaseproof paper/silver foil and bake for 10 minutes.
3. While the courgette shells are baking, cook the stuffing mixture by heating olive oil in a pan and cooking the onion until transparent. Add the garlic, courgette flesh and borlotti beans and season well with salt and pepper, cook for about 5 minutes.
4. In a separate frying pan dry cook the pine nuts and sunflower seeds until they just turn brown, and remove from the heat.
5. Assemble the stuffed courgettes by filling with the borlotti bean, garlic and courgette mixture, then top with the sunflower seeds and pine nuts. Drizzle with olive oil and place back on the baking tray. Cook for about 10-15 minutes.

Do you have a cheap, fresh and easy recipe I can try? I’m particularly looking for vegan recipes – so please get in touch with your suggestions. Let me know your recipe and I’ll feature it on the site and link back to you.

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