How to make Courgette Gondolars

 

These rather lovely baked courgettes with mince and cheese would make a great starter served hot or picnic fare cold. Easy to do and quick with a little technique.

So make a small portion of mince in a tomato sauce, a bit like a bolognese sauce, just fry the mince in a little olive oil till browned, no need for onion, then add a little chopped garlic, some passata and simmer for about twenty mins, season and remove from the heat, add torn basil leaves.

Meanwhile par boil some whole courgettes for about eight minutes. Parboiling is the technique for this dish, otherwise your courgettes will be hard.

When you can handle the courgettes cut them in half, using a spoon scoop out and discard the seeds, then scoop out some more courgette and add to the mince mixture; chop it up, add grated Pecorino or Parmesan and add some grated Cheddar and mix. Stuff into the courgettes and bake at 180 until they look like the above picture.