by Henry Gould – Aug 13th, 2019

Don’t be alarmed! This might sound complicated and hard; it’s really not. It requires a little bit of time, so it’s great for a Friday / Saturday night when you can relax and prepare everything without being in a rush after work. But if you feel like whipping it up on a Tuesday, you do you…!

If you want to make the sauce without meat, you can just omit the lamb and cook everything else the same; it will still be delicious. You could also add chickpeas in place of the lamb.

The sauce recipe is also much more than you need to cook the zucchinis, so consider storing and freezing what you don’t use.

Goat Cheese Stuffed Zucchinis in Spicy Lamb Sauce

• 500g ground lamb
• 1 onion, chopped finely
• 3 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 2 tbsp ground cumin
• 1 tbsp ground coriander
• 1 pinch ground cinnamon
• 1 tbsp smoked paprika
• 1 serrano chile, chopped finely
• 500 ml bottle of pureed tomato
• 4 small zucchinis
• Extra virgin olive oil
• 1 small package goat cheese at room temperature (easier to spread)
• Sea salt
• Black pepper
• 1 bunch fresh mint leaves, chopped

Get the biggest frying / sautee pan you have and put on medium heat. Add some olive oil, then add the ground lamb and begin to cook. Break the lamb up with a spatula into very small pieces. Continue frying over high heat until the lamb starts to brown and fry.

Add the onion, garlic and serrano chili and cook for 5 minutes. Add the cumin, coriander, cinnamon, paprika, as well as a healthy amount of salt and pepper. Continue cooking for a few minutes, then add the tomato puree. Lower the heat and cook for 30 minutes.

Cut the ends off the zucchinis, then slice in half lengthwise to give you two halves. Using a small spoon, scoop out the seeds to leave a nice little channel with which to fill with the goat cheese. Fill each half with goat cheese, using the whole package.

Remove some of the lamb sauce from the pan, leaving 1-2 cups worth. Check the seasoning for salt, then add a little more olive oil and a bit of water (you want it a little more watery to cook the zucchinis).

Turn on the broiler.

Add the zucchinis to the sauce, cheese side up, and allow to simmer on lower heat for a couple minutes. Stick the whole pan under the broiler until the cheese starts to brown.

Served with the chopped mint leaves over top.