Double zucchini involtini

• servings: 16 items
• active time: 40 minutes
• total time: 1 hour 40 minutes

Ingredients

800 g / 28 oz of quality tinned plum tomatoes*

2 tbsp / 30 ml olive oil

4 garlic cloves

a pinch of chilli flakes (optional)

salt & pepper, to taste

1 tsp sugar (optional)

750 g / 26.5 oz zucchini / courgette, divided

200 g / 7 oz firm cotton tofu*

20 g / 0.7 oz basil, more to garnish

2 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 garlic clove

¼ tsp dry mint, more to taste

black pepper, to taste

½ tsp fine sea salt, more to taste

2 tsp white / shiro miso paste (if unavailable add more salt and nutritional yeast)

freshly grated nutmeg, adjust to taste

zest of 1 lemon + 30 ml / 2 tbsp juice

30 ml / 2 tbsp olive oil, plus more to grease

2 spring onions / scallions, white and light green parts only

2 tbsp capers, finely chopped

2 tbsp coarse breadcrumbs (I make mine from leftover Turkish pide)

2 tbsp pine nuts or flaked almonds

10 ml / 2 tsp olive oil (optional)

Directions

Transfer tinned tomatoes and their juices into a large bowl and squash them well with a potato masher.

Heat up an oven-proof pan that you intend to use for this dish (a 30 cm / 11.5" round pan works well). Add olive oil and minced garlic. Sautee on a low heat until garlic softens and becomes aromatic - don't let it brown.

Add squashed tomatoes, a generous amount of salt, pepper and a pinch of chilli (if using). Allow the sauce to simmer for 30 minutes on low-medium heat, stirring from time to time. Move on to preparing involtini.

After 30 minutes, the sauce should have thickened sufficiently - taste it and adjust the seasoning to your liking, including adding some sugar if the sauce is too acidic.

Using a sharp knife or a mandoline, slice zucchini lenthwise into 0.5 cm / ¼" thick slices. You will need approximately 16 slices for this dish. Keep the offcuts for the filling.

Preheat a griddle pan and brush one side of zucchini slices with a little bit of it. Place greased zucchini slices on the preheated pan and grill until faint char marks develop (you don't want to cook so much that they break) on one side only. Take off the pan and allow them to cool.

Coarsely shred the rest of zucchini, including the offcuts. You will need 300 g / 10.5 oz (about 2 cups lightly packed) of shredded zucchini. Stir ½ tsp of salt through the shredded zucchini, place it in a sieve and allow it to sit for 20 minutes or so.

Place drained tofu, basil leaves, nutritional yeast, garlic (you could also pan-fry it first in step 6 if you prefer mellow garlic flavour), mint, pepper, miso, lemon zest and juice, grated nutmeg in a food processor, process until well combined. Set aside.

Once zucchini has released water, squeeze handfuls of shreeded zucchini in the palm of your hand to extrach more moisture. Go over it twice just to be sure it's as dry as it can be.

Heat up 2 tbsp of olive oil in a small pan, add sliced spring onions. Fry for a few seconds before adding grated zucchini. Sautée it for a few minutes until everything has softened and there is a bit of caramelisation going on. Stir often.

Add sautéed zucchini and spring onion to the tofu mixture. Scrape the pan well, including any caramelised bits - they add flavour. Process until well combined. Stir chopped capers through (you could process them too if you prefer smooth texture). Taste and add salt if needed.

Pre-heat up the oven to 200° C / 390° F.

Place a slice of zucchini charred side down. Add a heaped teaspoon of the filling at the thicker end and roll the slice up around the filling. Place it in the tomato sauce, seam down. Carry on until you've used up all of your zucchini slices.

Sprinkle the dish with coarse breadcrumbs and raw pine nuts coated in a little olive oil and bake for about 30 minutes, until the sauce thickens, the filling is set and the breadcrumb and pine nut topping is golden.

Nutrition

• Calories: 310.4
• Total Fat: 20.37 g
• Saturated Fat: 2.95 g
• Unsaturated Fat: 17.42 g
• Trans Fat: 0 g
• Cholesterol: 0 mg
• Sodium: 775.61 mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 20.3 g
• Dietary Fiber: 6.1 g
• Total Sugars: 11.66 g
• Protein: 13.99 g