Vegetables with Herbed Hemp Seed Filling

Lush bouquets of herbs, some quite new to me, are in my current CSA delivery. Summer savory is an herb I have not had the pleasure of using until this week. It is nicely sharp and peppery and seems to go well with white beans, cheese, and the filling below. If you don’t happen to have any, you can make the recipe without, and if you have no fresh oregano, use half a teaspoon dried. I happened to see these perfectly spherical tomatoes and zucchini at the Tompkins Square farmers’ market and thought they would make snazzy containers for this dish.

Zucchini and Tomatoes with Herbed Hemp Seed Filling

4 billiard ball-size globe zucchini or 4 smallish regular zucchini

4 billiard ball-size tomatoes

¾ cup hemp seeds, lightly toasted

½ cup grated parmesan (about an ounce)

3 cloves garlic

½ cup minced parsley (leaves from half of one small bunch parsley)

leaves from two sprigs fresh oregano (or ½ teaspoon dried oregano)

leaves from 2 sprigs summer savory

salt

black pepper (7 turns, about 1/3 teaspoon)

olive oil

Cut lids out of the tops of the tomatoes and zucchini.You will have best results if you cut into the tops of the of the vegetables at a sharp angle to remove cone-shaped sections. These mini-berets will be the lids for the stuffed vegetables. Remove and discard the tomato seeds. Use a melon baler or small spoon to scoop the insides out of the tomatoes, and set the pulp aside. Scoop out the zucchini pulp and set it aside in a separate bowl. Salt the zucchini pulp lightly. Salt the insides of the tomato and zucchini cups as well.

Smash the garlic cloves and add about ¾ teaspoon salt. Mince the garlic and salt together with the leaves of the parsley, oregano, and savory. Drain the zucchini pulp and mince the zucchini and tomato together. Combine the chopped pulp in a bowl with the hemp seeds, parmesan, minced garlic and herbs, and pepper. Add about one tablespoon of olive oil so that everything holds together nicely. Mix mix, toss toss.

Blanch the zucchini cups and lids for about two minutes in boiling water. This is so they will bake up to the same tenderness as the tomatoes.

Drizzle a bit of olive oil onto the bottom of a baking dish into which all the vegetables should fit comfortably. Spoon the filling into the tomato and squash cups, top with their little yarmulkes, place them in the dish and drizzle on just a bit more oil. Into the oven at 350f for about 40 minutes.

Weekend Herb Blogging is back at home this week at Kalyn's Kitchen. Read her Sunday roundup to plan an herb-filled holiday.

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