Stuffed Courgettes ( Kolokithakia Gemista) With Avgolemeno Sauce

People! This dish is as "down-home" Greek cooking as they get. Be it in an open-kitchen style restaurant or your Big Fat Greek friend's home, you'll find this dish often served.

It utilizes herbs that are prevalent in Greek cookery. You have parsley, dill and mint - all lending each other a hand in flavouring yet their individual taste can be recognized.

This is my first time actually making this on own as I've only previously enjoyed the finished product courtesy of my mom, Chrissanthi or, another aunt or relative. I was a little nervous about mastering the Avgolemeno Sauce. Not for fear of turning it into scrambled eggs but from the ensuing smack on my hands from my mom with the "koutala" (wooden spoon) for F-ing it up!


Stuffed Courgettes ( Kolokithakia Gemista) With Avgolemeno Sauce

2 medium onions, finely diced
4-count of olive oil
1 1/2 bunches of chopped fresh parsley
1/2 bunch of chopped fresh dill
1/2 munch of chopped fresh mint
2 lbs. of extra lean ground beef
1 1/2 cups of Italian (Carolina) or Arborio rice
10 courgettes, peeled, cut in half (made shorter) & cored
2/3 cup of fresh grated tomato or Pomodoro sauce
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 Tbsp Vegeta
1 tsp black pepper

1. Clean, peel and wash the courgettes. Cut a small slice from along one side and hollow them out using a vegetable corer. Reserve the courgettes in a large pan you use for a roast.
2. Put your large saute pan on medium-high heat and pour in a 4-count of olive oil and throw in your diced onions. Add some salt to help the onions sweat and reduce heat to medium-low and allow them to soften...low & slow (about 10-15 minutes).
3. Add your parsley, dill and mint and stir to warm through and incorporate. Add your tomato puree (sauce) and about a 1/4 cup of water to rinse out your measuring cup.

1. Using a spoon, scoop and stuff your courgettes with the filling. Don't be afraid of putting too much mixture in (or the filling to expand) as this recipe is lighter on the rice than the norm. Line the roasting pan with the stuffed courgettes in a circular fashion until the whole pan is full. Note: (You might have some extra filling. Take some romaine lettuce leaves, nuke them for a minute and fill and roll the leaves ( like Dolmades) to utilize all of your filling).
2. Pour in 3 cups of hot water, put the lid on the pan and throw your stuffed courgettes into a pre-heated 375 F oven.

Avgolemono Sauce

1 cup of hot stock, ladled from the roasted courgettes
2 eggs
juice of 1 lemon
2 heaping Tbsp of flour
2 tbsp of butter
Vegeta to taste

1. Using a whisk, mixer or hand blender, whip up your eggs and lemon juice and reserve.
2. In a sauce pan, melt your on medium heat and add your flour, constantly stirring. Your aim is for a light-brown roux. When this colour is achieved, add your stock to the sauce pan an stir for a few minutes to mix and thicken. Take the sauce pan off the heat. Whip up your white sauce and set aside.
3. Re-whip your egg-lemon mixture and here's the tricky part. Put your sauce pan back on the element (low heat) and take 1 ladle of egg lemon sauce and s-l-o-w-l-y pour it into your white sauce and simultaneously stir. Continue to slowly add remainder of egg-lemon to white sauce.
4. Take off the heat, adjust for seasoning and pour half of your Avgolemeno into the roast pan of courgettes and pour the rest in a gravy boat for serving extra sauce at the table.
   

One final note: this Avgolemeno Sauce was made free of any Greek mother's guilt and I did not suffer a "swat" of the wooden spoon!

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