STUFFED CUCUMBER
WITH PEPPER COULIS

• 4 medium cucumbers
• 2 C prepared crab salad (mayonnaise based)
• 1 jar roasted red or yellow peppers
• Olive oil
• Garlic powder to taste

Take the peel off the cucumbers with a sharp knife. Cut each cucumber at the ends for a flat surface. Then cut 2-inch sections from each cucumber. With a knife or corer, take out the seeds and pulp from each section and stand upright on a large plate or baking tin. Fill loosely with salad, mounding the top.

Drain the jar of roasted peppers and place the vegetables in a blender with a little olive oil, enough to smooth the blending (start with a teaspoonful). Puree until smooth and creamy, adding a few drops of olive oil if needed, and pureeing again. When done, pour into a bowl and season lightly with garlic powder, stirring to mix. If too liquid, strain with a small-mesh strainer or cheesecloth and return to bowl.

Spoon the pepper coulis over each stuffed cucumber. Makes about 6 servings of two cucumber sections each.

NOTE: Try this fresh-tasting dish with tuna, lobster or ham salad stuffing.
 

STUFFED ZUCCHINI

• 6 long zucchini (as opposed to the round variety)

• 1/2 pound ground beef  OR 1/4 lb. beef, 1/4 lb. Italian sweet sausage, crumbled

• Day-old Italian bread stripped of crust and crumbled -- the same volume as the meat

• Grated pecorino romano -- a half C, or more, to taste

• 1 egg

• 1 clove garlic, minced

• Minced parsley (a small bunch)

• Olive Oil

• Black pepper and salt to taste (keep in mind that pecorino romano is salty)

Lightly brown the beef or beef and sausage in a frying pan. Wash the zucchini, split them lengthwise, and scoop out the pulp with a spoon. Mix the remaining ingredients in a bowl with the cooked meat (include the drippings), and use it to fill the zucchini shells (if the volume of the mixture looks low when placed in the shells add some of the zucchini pulp to it).

Put the stuffed zucchini in a lightly-oiled baking tin, drizzle them lightly with oil, and bake  in a warm (375 F) oven until they're done -- a half hour to 45 minutes. Makes 6 servings.

STUFFED ONIONS

• 9 medium to small white onions
• 1 C day-old bread; remove and discard the crust, and dip the crumb in milk, then squeeze it dry
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• Oregano to taste
• Marjoram to taste
• 4 Tbsp. olive oil
• 12 oz. tuna
• 4/5 C freshly grated parmigiano cheese
• 1/3 C breadcrumbs
• Salt & pepper
   

Clean onions, trimming away the outer skins, and boil them in lightly salted water until they are cooked but still firm, or al dente. Drain and cut them in half widthwise (at the widest part), and remove the inner leaves, which you will want to mince and combine with the tuna, eggs, moistened bread, cheese, herbs, and garlic. Season the mixture to taste and stir in a tablespoon of oil.

Preheat oven to 360 degrees. Fill the onions with the stuffing, put them in a baking dish, dust them with the breadcrumbs and drizzle the remaining oil over them. Bake for about 20 minutes. Bring them hot to the table. makes 6 servings.

 STUFFED BLACK OLIVES

This refreshing, summery appetizer is a variation from the familiar stuffed green olives -- usually made with cream cheese or bleu cheese mixed with  seasoned bread crumbs and mayonnaise. Black olives are milder than green and lend themselves to flavorful fillings.

• Cooking oil (olive oil is best)

• 20 almonds (whole) or double that amount if halved

• 5 Tbsp bread crumbs shopping list

• 12 mint leaves finely chopped shopping list

• 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar shopping list

• 1\4 tsp. fresh black pepper shopping list

• 32 large black olives, pitted shopping list

Heat oil in a skillet put in the almonds and toast,. Remove and let cool. Chop very fine and add the bread crumbs to the skillet. Toast until lightly browned. Add all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix well. Mixture will be on the dry side. Stuff the olives (use a butter knife or thin spoon). Place olives in a serving dish and if any stuffing is left, sprinkle it over the olives. Serves 8.

ITALIAN STUFFING FOR VEGETABLES

Filling can be used for green or black olives, mushrooms, celery, cucumbers, onions, zucchini, eggplant or more.

• 1/3 C ground Italian sausage (sweet or hot)

• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

• 3/4 Tbsp. garlic salt

• 3 Tbsp. grated Romano cheese

• 1 tsp. dried oregano

• 1 tsp. dried basil

• 1/3 C Italian-style dry bread crumbs

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil

• 6 long peppers, or 6 cherry peppers, or 3 red, yellow or green bell peppers, or 3 medium zucchini, halved, or other vegetable

Core and seed the sliced peppers or zucchini. Place sausage in a large, deep skillet. Cook over medium high heat until evenly brown. Drain, crumble and set aside. In a medium bowl, mix together the sausage, cream cheese, garlic salt, Romano cheese, oregano, basil, bread crumbs and olive oil.

If using vegetables that will not be heated,  like olives, re-heat the sausage mixture to blend flavors. Cool and stuff your veggies.

If using vegetables that should be heated to soften, like onions, peppers, eggplant or zucchini, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

After cooking and mixing the sausage, stuff the vegetables with the sausage mixture. Place on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray, and bake in the preheated oven 20 to 25 minutes, until the stuffing is lightly brown and bubbly.  Yield 6 servings.

NOTE: Sweet sausage will "tame" the spiciness of hot peppers but if you can handle it, hot sausage will be good, too.

TIP: Try cream cheese and chive in this recipe or cut 6 to 8 grape tomatoes into quarters and add to the stuffing mix.