Courgette, the omnipotent

There are so many courgettes grown in my uncle's garden that I decided to share with you a few recipes as a tribute to the glorious vegetable. Let's start with a favourite dish I've been craving for a while now, 

Kolokithakia gemista avgolemono (stuffed courgettes/zucchini with an egg and lemon sauce):


14 large zucchini (cut in half and cored)
olive oil
2 medium onions (chopped)
2 garlic cloves (chopped)
400 grams. ground meat (beef, pork, lamb, etc.)
parsley (chopped)
dill (chopped)
mint (chopped)
2 tbsp tomato juice (passata)
1 small cup arborio rice
2-3 cups chicken stock
for the avgolemono sauce:
2 eggs
1 cup of stock ladled from the juice of the cooked courgettes
2 tbsp. flour
2 tbsp. butter
2 lemons
salt & pepper

Heat the oil in a pan. Saute the onions until tender, then add the garlic and saute until fragrant. Brown the ground meat in the pan and add parsley, dill, mint, rice, and the tomato passata. Simmer for 20 minutes or until the rice is cooked. Add half a cup of boiled water to help the rice boil. Remove the pan from the heat.


Stuff the zucchini with the mixture and place them in a pan. Pour the chicken stock into the pan, cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until the zucchini are tender.


AVGOLEMONO sauce:
Whisk the 2 eggs with the juice of 2 lemons and reserve. In a pan melt the butter and add the flour stirring continuously in a low heat. Leave aside the pan and add the hot stock of the heated zucchini. Here comes the tricky part of the recipe: ladle a spoon of the egg & lemon mix into the pan and return on the  heat stirring continuously. Make sure it is not too hot. Season to taste.


Pour half the sauce into the pan with the zucchini and save the other half for serving with the zucchini. Serve with fresh dill, feta and a glass of chilled white wine.


Oh, the bliss!!!!