People sometimes mistakenly think of zucchini as a bland, watery, and under-seasoned side dish. Yet, zucchini appears in tons of recipes by famous chefs like Ina Garten or Gordon Ramsay. And needless to say, our humble operation is very partial to the fruit (yes, it’s actually a fruit, botanically speaking). The reason that so many recipes call for zuke is that it’s affordable, versatile, and can be totally delicious. For example, you can turn it into zoodles, use it as a base for a hearty cake, add it to a salad, or fry it up for a zucchini latke. But you’ve probably never had a zucchini skewer, right? And we’re not using wood, either – the skewer is actually made out of linguine!
Zucchini Pasta Skewers with Halloumi Cheese and Meatballs
Equipment
- Pan
Ingredients
- 1 zucchini
- 4 oz halloumi cheese
- 4 oz ground beef
- 3 oz linguine pasta
- 1 red onion, diced
- 1 yellow bell pepper, chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 32 oz tomato sauce
- 1.5 tsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp sugar
- fresh herbs to garnish
Instructions
- Remove both ends of the zucchini and cut the rest into 14 equally-sized slices. Push out every second piece so that the individual slices only touch each other slightly.
- Slice the halloumi cheese into 6 pieces and fill every second gap between the zucchini with the cheese (3 on each side).
- Form small patties from the ground beef and stick them in the remaining gaps on both sides.
- Now push about 10 uncooked linguine noodles all the way through the zucchini stacks so that their ends are visible on either side of the 'skewer.'
- Heat some olive oil in a pan and fry the skewers on all sides. Add the red onion, garlic, and diced bell pepper to the pan, sauté the vegetables, and then add the tomato sauce. Season everything with salt, pepper, and sugar and let it cook for about 10 minutes.
VIDEO
These zucchini pasta skewers are a quick fix on a weeknight, and they are super scrumptious as well. When zucchini, meatballs, halloumi cheese, and pasta join forces, nothing can beat them. Bon appetit!