Daz Switalla Flavour Secrets No.1 The Strand Chef www.no1thestrand.co.nz

There is plenty of zucchini around at the moment and there are many ways to use them. They can be boiled, grilled, stuffed and baked, barbecued, fried or incorporated in other recipes including cakes and slices.

In Greece and Italy they are fried quickly in a thin batter and served simply with aioli and a lemon wedge as a starter or part of a mezzeh. The lighter coloured Mediterranean variety has similar flavour to the dark skin variety we get here, except I found it a bit drier and easier to brown if frying.

The Greeks loved to cook them slowly in amazing vegetarian dishes like vegetarian briam or filled and baked like this week's recipe – stuffed zucchini dolmade.

Zucchini are best eaten small before the seeds harden up and turn to a marrow – which reminds me of a true late night story of a drunken chef and a gay waiter on the booze and finding a huge marrow in the garden. We decided to stuff it for a late night snack. It took hours and was a culinary disaster. I often wondered if it was the result of my gay waiter friend being left alone to hollow out that massive Zucchini.

This week's recipe tastes much better and is equally good eaten when cold the next day.

Baked Zucchini Dolmades

Makes six average dolmades

Ingredients

1cup Arborio rice

1/4 cup Olive oil

2-3 cups of veggie stock

1 small onion, chopped

Small squeeze of fresh garlic

Salt and pepper

1/2 cup chopped toasted hazelnuts

2tbsp parmesan

1tbsp butter

Six small zucchini

1tsp of white sugar

Method

Wash and scoop out the flesh from the zucchini so you have a decent sized cavity without leaving shell too thin. Chop up the pulp and reserve. In a heavy pan, saute the onion for a minute or so in a little of the olive oil then remove. Add the rice, then the chopped pulp then add the onion back in slowly. Add some of the stock, stirring the rice to prevent sticking. Squeeze in the garlic and add more stock as it gets absorbed, cook for about 20 minutes. Add the butter, parmesan and chopped hazelnuts.
Brush hollowed out zucchini with olive oil, sprinkle with just a touch of sugar and fill with risotto – which can be made a little sloppy by adding more stock.

Arrange in a baking dish and cover with rest of olive oil, season well with salt and pepper and sprinkle with parmesan. Cover dish with foil and bake for about 90 minutes in an oven set on 140-150 degrees. Uncover and brown at 200 degrees for a few minutes. The slow cooking will prevent the zucchini bursting and concentrate the flavour – that is the secret for this week.