2 Recipes for Monday: Fish Piccata & Veggie Stuffed Zucchini

One of the perks of my husband's job is that he works on a lot of people's cars, and a lot of people like to garden and show their gratitude in the form of fresh, free vegetables, or even fish!   The other day he came home with over a dozen small green bell peppers(that's tomorrow night!), and some giant--I mean, really, the most enormous I've ever seen-- Zucchini. The next night, another friend and customer said he had some fresh striped Bass for us, and I really couldn't let it sit around for long!

Let's start with the vegetable stuffed Zucchini-

Look at that thing! It takes up almost my entire cutting board!

Start out by chopping the onion & garlic, and sauté on medium heat. Chop mushrooms, scoop out Zucchini and roughly chop insides and add to the pan, salt & pepper to taste. Cook until translucent, when veggies give up most of their water. Chop a medium tomato & the basil, add to medium bowl. Add shredded Parmesan and bread crumbs, then mix with partially cooked veggies. Stuff in the Zucchini and shred some more Parmesan or Asiago on top, and cook.

We had approximately 2 lbs of Striped Bass filet which yielded about 4 portions. Start by chopping the garlic, and add to the butter/oil. Coat the fish with very little flour, and shake off any excess. Brown on both sides.

Once browned, add wine, and the jar of capers (liquid too!). Be careful with the capers if you are unsure of them, depending on the brand, age, size, or amount they can make this dish taste salty. Most of the time this happens if you've had them in your pantry for a while, but as I said- feel it out before you add the whole thing- I love capers so I add all of it. Allow to poach until reduced-- I do not time this, I just cover and determine it's readiness by looks, but it's probably only about 10-15 minutes.

Now, add the remainder of the Tapioca flour, keeping in mind that if you use all of it, it will thicken not only rapidly but also more than corn starch, and as it sits on your plate it will continue to thicken and even gel with time. So, keep that in mind with how thick you like your sauce to be! At this point, it's ready! Let's plate everything up!

Finished fish:

Stuffed Zucchini:

Fish Piccata

Ingredients

• Approx. 2 lbs. Striped Bass, or preferred fish
• 2 large cloves garlic
• 2 tbsp each- unsalted butter & olive oil
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1/4 cup Tapioca flour
• 1- 3.75 oz jar of capers
• salt & pepper, to taste

Method

1. Thoroughly wash & dry the fish, set aside. 
2. Mix Tapioca flour with salt & pepper (to taste) in a flat pan or pie plate.
3. Melt butter and oil in a skillet, over medium heat. 
4. Chop the garlic and add to the pan, stirring and making sure not to burn. 
5. Thinly coat the fish with Tapioca flour, shaking off any excess, and add to the pan. Brown on both sides, then add wine and capers. 
6. Cover, and simmer until reduced- about 10-15 minutes. Add the rest of the flour, depending on how thick you desire the sauce to be, stir until combined and within a minute this will be ready to serve.

Vegetable-Stuffed Zucchini

Ingredients

• 1 very large, or about 2-3 medium Zucchini
• 1 medium onion
• 13-14 Cremini mushrooms (a small bunch)
• 2 cloves garlic
• 12 leaves fresh basil
• 2 tbsp. shredded Parmesan cheese (Asiago would also work well with this)
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs
• salt & pepper, to taste

Method

1. Preheat oven to 400°F. 
2. Cut Zucchini lengthwise, scoop out and chop the middle of the Zucchini. Chop onion, garlic & mushrooms. 
3. Lightly sauté together in olive oil over medium heat, with salt & pepper, just until onions are translucent and mushrooms give up most of their water.
4. Chop up the tomato and roughly chop the basil. 
5. Add cooked vegetables, tomato, and basil to a bowl and mix together with bread crumbs and shredded Parmesan cheese.
6. Place the scooped-out Zucchini in a 9×12 pan, fill with vegetable mixture. Grate a little more Parmesan over the top, and bake covered for 30 minutes, remove cover and bake an additional 30 minutes uncovered, or until golden brown.

©The Village Farmhouse | Amy Heck 2012. Please do not steal my images.