I love cooking and I admit I never follow a recipe properly. I always think it needs more of that or less of this.

I’ve not always been good at cooking, when I was teenager, I used to burn everything and my mother use to say you’ll have to marry a man that can cook or get a chef. I did neither, I just learned how to cook.

Whether it’s gardening, vegetable growing or cooking, the more you do it, the more you learn. We are not born with these skills, so we can all learn these things, if we are interested in them.

Regular readers will know I am a major fan of Ball Courgettes and I grow a different colour / variety every year. Finally this year I have been able to cook them in the oven stuffed and give you my recipe.

Here’s my Yellow Ball Courgette recipe:

Beef, Tomato & Rice Stuffed Yellow Ball Courgettes

Ingredients

• 500g Beef Mince,
• 3 x Yellow Ball Courgettes from the Vegetable Garden.
• 1 x Red Sweet Pepper, chopped into tiny squares,
• 3 – 4 Spring Onions, chopped finely,
• A Handful of Tomatoes (home grown preferred), chopped,
• A packet of microwave rice, I used Basmati rice.
• Salt & pepper,
• 1 tablespoon of Tomato purée,
• A small cup of Water,
• 1-2 tablespoons of tomato ketchup.

Method

1. Harvest 3 ball courgettes from the vegetable garden, harvest one per person and small ones for children.
2. Wash and gently scrub the courgettes to get the little spines off the ball courgettes.
3. Cut off the top, about 1cm below the stalk. just like a pumpkin so you can scoop out the centre flesh.

4. Use a teaspoon to score the flesh in a circle and then scoop out all the courgette flesh into a separate bowl.

5. Make sure you have removed enough flesh round the sides and bottom to be able to fill it. The skin is very soft so do this gently. Scoop out the flesh of all 3 ball courgettes.

6. Place all 3 hollowed out ball courgettes on an oven tray. Spray with olive oil and place the tray in the oven for 20 minutes at 190 degree centigrade.

7. Meanwhile you can make the filling. Put a large frying pan on the hob under a medium heat and add the mince beef to the pan. Break up the mince with a wooden spoon to make sure all of it has browned.

8. Add courgette filling, spring onions, tomatoes (homegrown if you have them), 1 or 2 cloves of garlic diced and sweet pepper. Add salt and pepper to taste.

9. To make the filling less dry, add 1 tablespoon of tomato purée and 1 cup of water and stir in to the filling mix.

10. Add the microwave rice packet to the microwave and cook for the time stated on the packet.

11. Get a mixing bowl and tip out the cooked rice into it. When the mince and other ingredients in the frying pan are cooked, take the pan off the hob and add to the mixing bowl.

12. Stir well and add 1-2 tablespoons of tomato ketchup to loosen further, if it still is too dry.

13. Take the empty roasted courgette balls out of the oven after 20 mins.

14. Using a desert spoon, spoon the beef and rice mixture into the courgette balls up to the top.

15. Place the stuffed courgettes on the oven tray and put back into the oven for 20 minutes at 190 degrees centigrade.

16. Happy Eating! 🍽️

Serve with a fresh Vegetable Garden Salad.

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The Courgette Series

Varieties

Interesting Vegetables: Growing Ball Courgettes – Green Striped Ball – Piccolo F1

Oh Balls! I’m Growing Courgette Balls

Interesting Vegetables : Growing Yellow Round Ball Courgettes

Planting

How to Plant Courgettes in a Raised Bed with Video

Learning

Courgettes, Squashes and Pumpkins – Male and Female Flowers Explained

Cooking with Courgettes

1 Courgette, 2 Courgette, 3 Courgette and more.

Cooking with Ball Courgettes – Beef & Rice Stuffed & Roasted Yellow Ball Courgettes