Squash stew for the Recipe Marathon

I love food blog cruising! It is such a delicious pursuit, almost bordering on the naughty. Why? Because I feel like a "peeping Tom", or whatever the female version of it might be called, looking into other people's kitchens, checking out what they are up to, "stealing" some of their cooking secrets. Do you see what I mean? And because I myself do not have that much time to cook, I satisfy my hunger for choice and variety by looking through food blogs for about 10-15 minutes daily, looking at the pictures, reading the recipes, almost feeling the tastes in my mouth. Sometimes I like something so much that I am compelled to find the time and prepare it.

I was cruising a bit again this morning when I chanced on this cooking challenge, the Recipe Marathon. This prompted me to try and find the time to either participate or just "parallel run". :) And if not every day, but at least doing an "off and on" marathon.

So today I ran over (it's a marathon after all) to the veggie store and got these lovely small baby squashes. I would usually make the recipe below with larger summer squashes and stuff them with the ground beef mix. But these baby ones did just as well, although I only stuffed a few, to have one per person, the rest I just chopped up.


Squash with ground beef stuffing

2-3 medium sized summer squashes (or large zucchinis, or several small ones)
1 lb ground beef
1 onion
2 tablespoon oil or butter
1 egg
2 slices multigrain bread, ground into crumbs in a blender
1 cup cooked rice
1 teaspoon sweet paprika
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
salt to taste
For the sauce:
1 can basic tomato sauce or 2 cups homemade
herbs and spices to your liking

Peel the squashes and scoop out the insides. Arrange the scooped out flesh at the bottom of the pot in which you will cook the stew. If the squashes or zucchinis are too small, you can just cut them into cubes, and from the meat mixture make meatballs. Otherwise proceed the same way with the recipe.

Chop the onion finely and saute it a bit in the oil or butter. Grind the two bread slices into crumbs in a blender or food processor. In a bowl mix together the meat with the rest of the ingredients, stuff the prepared squash boats with some of it, and if there is more, form meatballs. Tightly pack these on top of the scooped out stuff, then pour water over it to just barely cover it. Bring it to boil. At this point I like to sprinkle a little chopped dill in the water and add a spoonful of chicken soup powder.

Cover the pot and let it boil for about 20 minutes. By that time the water should have reduced somewhat. Pour in the tomato sauce and add some spices, like coriander, garam masala, some chopped green chilies, chopped green parsley or coriander leaves, whatever your family likes. Now slowly simmer it until the sauce thickens. Taste it, adjust the seasonings. I usually add a little sugar at this point if the sauce tastes a bit too acidic.