Stuffed Zucchini or Kolokithakia Gemista

 

When I first moved to Greece and got married, I did not know a thing about Greek cooking. Luckily, my husband was more than happy to show me how to cook Greek style. He taught me many recipes which I make to this day.

Now, I do most of the cooking, but my husband, Ilias, cannot seem to keep himself away from the stove for long.  The other day, I mentioned that I was to make stuffed zucchini and he said, “Girl, let me make it. I will show you how to make it Greek style.” Since he is a great cook, I had no problems with this at all. After watching him prepare the zucchini, I realized our two recipes were completely different. I was going to cut the zucchini in half and stuff it with meat and cheese. He went a totally different direction. This is what he did…

 

How to make Stuffed Zucchini or Kolokithakia Gemista…

 

First, my husband washed 5 zucchini. Then he hollowed out the center of the zucchini with a knife and spoon so that they resembled “tubes”. He set the zucchini “tubes” aside and went to the next step.

In a frying pan, he heated 1/2 cup of olive oil and added a large diced onion, a 1/2 cup of chopped fresh dill, 3/4 pound of ground beef, and salt/pepper. He cooked the mix until the meat was brown and onion translucent. He turned off the heat and added a cup of parboiled rice. After mixing the beef and rice, he stuffed the zucchini and returned them to a large kettle that had hot olive oil and seared the zucchini on all sides. To this, he added enough water to cover the zucchini and put the lid on the pot. he let them simmer for 1/2 hour.

Next…

When he began to ladle out some of the liquid from the zucchini pot, I became confused. Then it became clear. He beat two eggs with olive oil and lemon juice. Slowly, he added the hot zucchini broth. After mixing for a bit, he added the sauce to the zucchini until it thickened. Finally, he put zucchini and sauce on our plates and we were ready to eat!

 

This is our table.

From left to right: Olive bread, Greek yogurt with salt and pepper (a must for this dish), Feta, and cabbage salad with tomatoes. Oh, and heaping plates of stuffed zucchini!

 

I really loved this meal! Would I change anything? Nope! It was perfect. Since, it is hard to see what our prepared zucchini look like stuffed, I found a picture of stuffed zucchini that effectively shows what the zucchini looks like without the sauce. Not my picture, but I thank the stars for the person who took it. Looks nice!