Kousa, Lebanese Stuffed Zucchini

This delightful little dish began as a desire to make the Lebanese Stuffed Zucchini, or Kousa, from Cosette’s Kitchen cooking blog.  We love following each other, and being inspired in the kitchen.

Cosette shows the most delectable stuffed zucchini which simmer in a pot, and the appeal of the filling with aromatics in braised zucchini just sang to me.  So I just had to make it.  What I ended up making, is a few large strides away from her original, however.  Because attempting her recipe here at home this week became a true exercise in ‘Use What You Have’.  So I apologize in advance to any purists out there.  This post is not meant to diminish the classic recipe, rather it is meant to honour it, in my humble way.

First of all, Cosette uses a type of zucchini that is a bit more challenging for me to source at the moment.  White, Grey or Mexican Zucchini or paler in colour, and are quite wider or fuller than the typical zucchini I cook with.  Because of their shape, the classic dish calls for hollowing out the insides of this type of zucchini, and stuffing it with a filling of meat, rice, tomatoes and seasonings, herbs etc.

Well, since I was using a much thinner, narrower zucchini, to hollow it out would be a complete waste of energy, and I’d probably break through to the skin before I’d make a hollow wide enough to accept any filling.  So I decided to do something slightly different.  I was going to slice the zucchini in half lengthwise, and make hollows in each half.  Then I could mound the filling in the zucchini, and bake it in the oven.

Which brings me to the filling.  She calls for sirloin which has been finely chopped, to be mixed with herbs, spices, rice and tomatoes.  Both the meat and the rice are raw.  This is fine for her recipe, since it will all cook to perfection surrounded by the zucchini, simmering in a pot filled with stock.  I wouldn’t be stuffing the filling into hollowed out zucchini, rather, I would be exposing it.  The size of the zucchini would mean that they would cook much faster that Cosette’s recipe.  So, in order to not have the zucchini overcook before the meat and rice were cooked through properly, I decided that it would be best to sauté the meat and combine it with the herbs and seasonings, and cooked rice.  

When it comes to the type of meat you can use, consider the following:  I happened to have a piece of venison tenderloin in the freezer, which I really wanted to use.  I let it thaw only slightly, as slightly frozen meant it would be easier to slice into a fine dice.  If you want to use ground beef, turkey or even chicken (because this is a time of making the most of what is in our freezers and pantry) just remember to add extra fat to make up for the lean-ness of the meat.  A few glugs of olive oil is all it will take.

Cosette’s recipe calls for using the tomatoes in the filling.  I decided that since my zucchini would be sitting flat in a baking pan as opposed to sitting tall in a large pot, I would use the tomatoes as the braising liquid to surround the zucchini ‘rafts’.  I added some chicken stock, and seasoned it all to give it some oomph. For Jim and I, three good sized zucchini were split and baked.  If you want to make more zucchini, say 4 to 6, you may need to use two baking pans.  You can either double the tomatoes, or feel free to thin it out with a bit more stock.

Along with the allspice that Cosette’s recipe calls for, I decided to add cinnamon and cloves.  These spices work so fabulously with meat in Middle Eastern recipes, and I just wanted to amp up the exotic nature of the dish.  

Towards the end of the baking time, I combined breadcrumbs, mozzarella and parmesan cheeses and chopped mint to make for a breadcrumb topping of sorts.  I sprinkled it on each raft, and let the heat of the oven melt the cheese and crisp up the breadcrumbs.  Crunch paradise!!

And finally, the recipe calls for yogurt to be served to dollop on the cooked stuffed zucchini.  So I took greek yogurt, added some salt, pepper, garlic powder and Aleppo Pepper and made a quick crema.  Drizzled this over the finished crispy topped zucchini rafts, with a spoonful of the tomato sauce on the side made for a fabulous dish. 

Jim loved it.  And in the end, it was so easy to make, and I will be making it often.  Thanks Cosette, for being such a great inspiration! I hope you don’t mind what I did to your recipe!!  I’ve added the link to the original recipe in the Notes below.

Love Jen

3 from 1 vote

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Kousa, Lebanese Stuffed Zucchini

A variation on a classic Lebanese dish, all the components are there, just used in a different way. Halved zucchini are stuffed with an aromatic meat, rice, herb. feta cheese and pine nut filling. They nestle in a tomato sauce and bake in the oven. A cheesy breadcrumb topping finishes them off, and a drizzle of spiced yogurt crema is the final addition.

Course Main Course

Cuisine Lebanese

Keyword zucchini

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 50 minutes

Servings 4

Ingredients

Filling

• 2 tbsp olive oil divided
• 1 lb of sirloin finely diced (this can be replaced with ground sirloin, or even ground turkey or chicken, just add extra fat to make up for the lean nature of the meat)
• 1 medium onion finely diced
• 2 small to medium garlic cloves minced
• 2 tsp kosher salt plus a bit more for the interior of the zucchini
• 1 1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper plus a bit more for the interior of the zucchini
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp allspice
• 1/4 tsp cloves
• small handful parsley chopped
• small handful mint chopped
• 1/3 cup pine nuts, lightly toasted in a skillet over medium low heat for 5 or so minutes or replace with slivered or chopped almonds, pistachios, whatever you have on hand
• 1/3 cup feta cheese crumbled
• 1 cup cooked basmati rice
• 3-4 medium to large green zucchini
• 2 tsp garlic powder divided
• 1 large can or jar of whole tomatoes
• 1/2-1 cup chicken stock

Breadcrumb Topping

• 1/4-1/3 cup grated Mozzarella cheese
• 1/4-1/3 cup panko breadcrumbs
• 2-2 1/2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
• 2-21/2 tbsp chopped mint
• 1-1 1/2 tbsp olive oil

Yogurt Crema

• 3/4 to 1 cup greek yogurt
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp Aleppo pepper

Instructions

1. Heat a large skillet or frying pan over medium heat. Add 1 tbsp of the olive oil. Sauté the onion for about 3 minutes till softened. Add the garlic and sauté for another minute. Add the meat and brown till just cooked through properly, stirring regularly. If using a very lean cut of meat, add the extra olive oil.

2. Add 1 tsp of the salt, 1 1/2 tsp pepper, the cinnamon, allspice and cloves and stir to coat the meat well.

3. Add the parsley, mint and pine nuts. Stir to combine. Add the feta, and the rice and stir to combine well. Taste and check for salt. The feta will have added some salt. But if you feel it needs more, add it now. Set aside.

4. Preheat the oven to 400F.
5. Slice the zucchini in half lengthwise. Using a grapefruit spoon (a small spoon with serrated edges) if possible, scoop out the flesh leaving a 1/4 wall all around the outer edges. Chop all the scooped out flesh into a fine dice and add it to the meat mixture.
6. Drizzle a little olive oil into each zucchini raft, and rub it around with your fingers to coat the interior. Sprinkle a little salt, pepper and 1/2 tsp garlic powder total, evenly into the interiors.
7. Using a small spoon, or your fingers, fill the zucchini with the meat mixture, mounding it and packing it into the cavities of the zucchini.

8. Depending on how many zucchini you have prepared, you may need to have two baking dishes ready. But don't have the baking pans too large, that the zucchini aren't snug and the tomato sauce is spread too far away from them.

9. Empty the tomatoes from the jar or can into the baking pan. Squish the tomatoes into a small biteable chunk with your fingers (the best sensation ever!) Once they are 'puréed', add a little chicken stock to the tomatoes to create a lovely sauce. Add 1 tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp of black pepper, and the remaining 1/2 tsp of garlic powder. Stir to combine. If you are using more than one baking pan, you may need to add more chicken stock.

10. Nestle the zucchini into the sauce, laying them close to each other. Cover the pan with aluminum foil. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes, or until the zucchini is softened and just cooked through.
11. While the zucchini are baking, combine the Breadcrumb Topping ingredients in a small bowl. I have two measurements, depending on how many zucchini you decided to use.
12. Once the zucchini are just cooked through, remove the baking pan to the top of the stove. Sprinkle 2 tbsp or so of the mixture over each zucchini raft. Return the pan to the oven, uncovered and bake for another 10 minutes, or until the breadcrumb mixture is golden and the cheese has melted. You can use the broiler to help you achieve the hue you would like, just watch it, it will go fast.
13. Remove and let them cool just a touch.
14. Combine the Yogurt Crema ingredients in a small bowl- stir to create a sauce of sorts. Taste and re-season as desired.
15. Serve two zucchini or so per person with some of the tomato sauce, and a drizzle of the yogurt crema on top.

Recipe Notes

Notes
There will probably be leftover meat mixture. Of course you can use it all, but it will mean using 3 or so more zucchini. If you don't want to make that many zucchini at once, feel free to freeze the remaining filling for another time. The filling will also work great as a stuffing for peppers or tomatoes!

This could even be made vegetarian by using cooked green lentils!

Recipe inspired by 'Kousa, Lebanese Stuffed Zucchini', found here.