Tag: stuffed

Stuffed cucumbers. Have you ever thought about it? – Italian Cuisine

The summer appetizer you were looking for, because it is very fresh and can be prepared in a minute

Make a good stock of cucumbers this summer because they are good, light, fresh and super moisturizing.
They can be easily munched on the go and are a very versatile ingredient for your salads, but not only.
Do you know what fillings are delicious?
Let's see how they are prepared.

Small boats or cucumber rings

There is a way and a way to bring acucumber salad and we want to offer you a very original and tasty version: i stuffed cucumbers.
In fact, cucumbers can become containers of mousse and cheese creams thus becoming light and delicious seconds.
Just wash them very well and divide them in half lengthwise.
Keep the peel if it is not dark cucumbers and with very hard rind.
Gently with a spoon empty them to eliminate the central part of the seeds which is very watery. Set it aside and maybe add it into one cold avocado and cucumber soup, another perfect recipe for the summer.
At this point you will have some boats of cucumbers to be stuffed to taste.
You don't have to cook them because cucumber is as good as it is, natural, fresh and crunchy.
Another way of filling cucumbers is cut them in section obtaining many cylinders thick enough and then empty the interior.
In this way the circumference of the cucumber remains intact and you will have many "rings" to stuff like gods Bon Bon.

Creamy cheese filling

You can stuff your cucumber boats with raw and finely chopped seasonal vegetables or with cheese cubes or cold cuts, but it's important that everything is wrapped in something creamy. The ideal is one cheese cream.
Choose from many fresh and soft cheeses such as robiola, goat cheese, crescenza, ricotta, stracchino and also the gorgonzola if you love strong and decisive tastes. You can also mix the various cheeses and add spices and herbs tturning everything into a cream.
If you are vegan you can orient yourself on many alternatives based on plant milk.

Tuna mousse

A great combination is that between cucumbers and tuna and it is also perfect in the summer. So drain some good tuna in oil, possibly preserved in glass, and then blend it with a spreadable cheese like Philadelphia or ricotta, therefore with a fairly delicate taste.
Then add some bits of celery or tomato or even peppers and then with this cream and with the help of a sac à poche, stuff the cucumbers. A touch of crunchiness doesn't hurt, so abound with it sow various to decorate.

Ham Mousse

Children like it a lot and it is a good idea for this filling because it goes well with fresh vegetables such as cucumber.
To prepare the Ham Mousse just blend the cooked ham with a cheese of your choice and then, as for the tuna mousse, enrich everything to taste with spices, herbs, vegetables or cheese cubes emmental type.
Also in this case add a crunchy part choosing between sliced almonds or chopped pistachios.

Fruit version

Since the cucumber is very delicate and almost tasteless, we can play with both salty and sweet ingredients.
For example, you can stuff it withdiced watermelon inside a cream of Greek yogurt, honey and mint.
It would also look great with grilled peaches and apricots together with ricotta and cinnamon and with white grapes, gorgonzola and walnuts for a very interesting contrast of flavors.

Eggplants stuffed with meatballs – Italian Cuisine

First, wash and peel the aubergines, dig out the pulp (leaving a shell about 1 cm thick) and cut the pulp into small cubes.

Heat a little oil in a non-stick pan, then cook the eggplant shells for 4-5 minutes on each side, in order to brown and flavor without letting them soften too much.

Put the shells aside and, in the same pan, also cook the pulp, turning often to cook and evenly dice the cubes.

In the meantime, prepare the meatballs: add in a ground bowl, salt, pepper, chopped parsley, lightly sponged and squeezed bread, egg and Parmesan and mix, then create the meatballs with wet hands, making small balls of dough of a couple of cm in diameter.

Always in the same pan that you used for the aubergines, cook the meatballs too, stirring frequently, then set these aside.

Meanwhile, separately, prepare a sauce with garlic, oil, cherry tomatoes and a little salt: cook for about ten minutes, then add abundant basil, the meatballs and the aubergine pulp.
Continue to cook for another ten minutes, to flavor and shrink, then add the diced mozzarella, slightly squeezed.

Take the eggplant shells back, arrange them in a baking dish, fill them with the filling and cook for about 15 minutes in a preheated convection oven at 200 ° C.

The aubergines stuffed with meatballs are ready: let them at least cool down, then serve them with fresh basil.

5 mistakes not to make with stuffed vegetables – Italian Cuisine

There are many reasons not to give up stuffed vegetables, to be prepared however following our advice

Summer delight, the stuffed vegetables they are a delicious dish to prepare for many reasons: you can make them with many vegetables (like tomatoes, pepperoni, eggplant, zucchini), you can range with your imagination in filling them, they are not too caloric (unless you overdo it with the filling!) and they are also delicious the next day without needing to heat them.

Stuffed vegetables: mistakes not to be made

To avoid compromising their success, however, there are some mistakes to avoid. Here are what they are.

1. Don't let the vegetables run out of water

To have a dry and crunchy result instead of a boiled and sad vegetable, one must remember to lose their water to vegetables, so that once put in the oven or in a pan they will brown well. Then open the vegetables in two, sprinkle them with salt and let them rest for at least 30 minutes. Then rinse them, dry them and stuff them!

2. Ignore the soft part

Unless you use it rice or cous cous as a filling, remember to always insert a soft part, which serves as a binder, otherwise you will have a filling in small pieces that will be neither beautiful to see nor to eat. Then add the other ingredients of the crumb soaked in milk and then squeezed, boiled potatoes or eggs. Your filling will be so uniform and well blended.

3. Digging different thicknesses

When you dig a vegetable and then fill it, it is essential that the external part have all the same thickness, otherwise you will find yourself in a raw and burnt area. So be very careful with the brush or knife, and remember that the right size of pulp to be left attached to the vegetable is about 5 mm.

4. Exaggerate with the filling

Good that you like rich things, but when stuffing a vegetable it is essential do not overdo it with the filling, which otherwise will come out, will form cooking water and irreparably moisten your vegetables, giving you the "boiled" effect. Remember, therefore, that the filling, whatever it is, must not overflow, but be completely contained by the vegetables.

5. Wrong cooking times

Often vegetables and fillings have different consistencies and different cooking times. Depending on the filling you decide to use, it will be good to check how long it could be cooked, to decide whether the vegetable container needs, for example, a Preventive "scottatina". In the case of courgettes stuffed with meat, for example, it would be good to cook the emptied courgettes in the oven for 10 minutes, and only then fill them. Otherwise, cooking the courgette would release a lot of water, which it would go to moisten the filling too much, boiling it.

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