The Vegangeek! (stuffed

Zucchini stuffed with Couscous, Moroccan style

ucchini was in pretty much every tagine dish I ate while I travelled through Morocco. I wrote down ingredients, doodled on the backs of business cards and receipts, hoping to remember what it was that was in everything.

This recipe assumes that you don't own a tagine, but it does help a fair bit if you own a holler, or some other sort of slender spatula, for hollowing out the squash. I don't really recommend using a knife for this -- it's too easy to poke through the side of the squash and cut yourself. Having said that, the rest of the recipe is pretty simple.

Two zucchini squash, with the stem end trimmed off, and hollowed out
1 half cup of dry couscous
2 cups of vegetable stock or water
1 small handful of mixed dried fruit, like raisins and apricots
1 tsp of cinnamon
1 small bunch of parsley, chopped

Begin by preheating the oven to 350F, since you will need it later. Cut the stem end off of the zucchini, and carefully dig out the middle of the squash. Leave some of the pulp. Do NOT trim off the other round end of the squash -- that end is necessary to help keep in the couscous stuffing when you fill it.

I use a holler for this. It's a special tool that a lot of middle eastern grocery stores carry, or on-line cooking supply stores. Think of an apple corer, but longer so it can reach further.

In a medium sauce pan, add your vegetable stock, and bring it to a boil. Turn the heat down, and stir in the couscous, the dried fruit, and the cinnamon. It will cook VERY quickly (it's pasta, not a grain), so the minute it has absorbed the water take it off the heat.

Using a spoon, shovel it into the squash. I pack it into the cavity with the long handle of a big wooden spoon. When you can't cram any more in there (this is why you didn't cut off the other end of the squash), place them in a roasting pan, pointed up so the filling doesn't fall out, and bake until the squash is easily pierced with a fork.

You could serve this as is, or cut it carefully into sushi-maki sized pieces and serve it with a salad, or maybe some grilled tofu or something. In Morocco, tagined vegetables are often served with lentil soups, or chickpeas. It'd probably also go very nicely with a simple tomato sauce.