Couscous, chickpea and zucchini stuffed tomatoes
The filling made a good 4 cups, so take that into account when figuring out how many tomatoes to use, depending upon size. I didn’t hollow the tomatoes out completely, since my goal was to get a little tomato flavor along with each bite of filling.
The hollowed out pulp can be used in salads, salsas, etc.
Go to taste on the herbs - a little more, or less is OK.
Ingredients
5-6 tomatoes, hollowed out - leave a fairly thick shell
1 cup vegetable broth or water
3/4 cup Moroccan couscous
Olive oil
Up to 1 can chickpeas, drained but not rinsed
1/3 cup shallot or red onion, diced small
1/2 cup zucchini, diced small or shredded
2 large cloves garlic, minced - about 1 tablespoon
Handful basil leaves, chopped, plus extra for garnish
Palmful onion or garlic chives, chopped (optional)
Palmful mint, chopped (optional)
Salt and cayenne pepper to taste
Instructions
Bring broth to a boil, remove from heat, stir in couscous and cover. This allows it to steam really fast, in a couple of minutes.
Film a saute pan with olive oil. Add chickpeas, shallot, zucchini and garlic. Cook over medium heat until shallot and zucchini are soft, a few minutes.
Stir in garlic, basil, chives and mint. Cook a minute or so.
Put couscous in large bowl and pour chickpea mixture over. Mix well and add seasonings.
Go ahead and add a little olive oil if you like.
Let cool a bit, then pack into tomatoes.
Garnish and serve.
Gilding the lily
A shower of Romano would be nice on top