Rice-Stuffed Zucchini

Finally a vegetarian stuffed zucchini that will knock your socks off!

The halved zucchini are salted - something we've all noted during this zucchini challenge as useful for firming it up. The stuffing includes onion, garlic, tomatoes, the innards of the zucchini, jalapeno, and rice. Rather than the long-grain called for, I used left-over short-grain brown rice, and it worked well. After stuffing the outer zucchinis, a bread crumb-mozarella-paprika topping is layered on, and its baked. I used half conventional paprika and half smoked.

The slight heat from the jalapeno complemented the other flavors, and it was so much more than the sum of its parts. I think we were all surprised - teenagers too - by how much we enjoyed it.