Stuffed Zucchini

How to prepare stuffed zucchini

1. Cover the rice with boiling water and let it sit for half the cooking time indicated on the package (e.g., if cooking time is 18 minutes, leave it for 9 minutes in hot water).
2. Sauté the finely chopped onion in 2 tablespoons of hot oil. When softened, add the ground meat and finely chopped bacon and fry everything over high heat until it changes color. Then add the finely chopped herbs, drained rice, 1 teaspoon paprika, 1/2 teaspoon pepper and salt to taste. Add the passata and pepper paste and mix well.
3. Cut the zucchini in half lengthwise and scoop out all the seeded area from the center. Sprinkle with salt. Fill the hollows with the meat mixture.
4. Pour half of the remaining oil into a large baking dish. Line the entire bottom with tomato slices. Pour the rest of the oil over them.
5. Place the stuffed zucchini over the tomatoes and pour hot water into the dish just enough to almost cover the tomatoes. Cover the dish with aluminum foil and bake at 200°C for 10 minutes.
7. While the zucchini are in the oven, prepare a thinner béchamel sauce (using 300 ml milk) following the instructions here. At the end, add the grated cheese to the sauce and stir until melted.
8. Remove the foil from the zucchini dish and spoon the cheese sauce over the filling. Return to the oven, still at 200°C, for another 20-25 minutes, until the cheese sauce is golden on top.
   * when you're in a hurry, instead of the cheese sauce, you can just add grated cheese on top of the zucchini in the last 5 minutes of baking
9. Transfer the zucchini to a serving platter. The tomatoes will remain in the pan in a golden sauce. Place the pan on the large burner and bring to a boil for 1 minute. Season the sauce with salt and pepper. Blend all the contents of the pan until you get a smooth sauce.
10. Serve the zucchini sprinkled with dill and drizzled with tomato sauce.

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