Stuffed Zucchini

Ingredients
0.5 pound of italian loaf
2 tbsp butter
6 ounces mushrooms
1 carrots
1 onion
2 zucchinis
1/4 cup cranberry sauce (if no cranberry sauce is available double the dried cranberries)
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1 cups vegetable stock
5 sprigs fresh thyme, chopped finely
5 leaves fresh sage, chopped finely
4 leaves fresh basil, chopped finely
1 sprigs rosemary, chopped finely
2 tbsp chopped italian parsley
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 F
Cut the bread into small cubes (I try to keep it under a square inch). Spread bread evenly on 1 baking sheet. Toast the bread in the oven until browning – careful not to burn! Mean while, in a large sauce pan fry the onion with a couple tablespoons of butter cut with a couple tablespoons of olive oil. Saute onions until translucent. Slice the mushrooms and add to the onions. Slice the carrots (for the larger slices I’ll cut down the middle – into a half moon shape), add with the mushrooms. Cut the zucchini in half lengthwise and spoon out the guts. Chop the removed guts and add to the pan. Saute on medium low heat until mushrooms are soft, about 5 minutes. Add more butter if necessary. Add the thyme, sage, basil, rosemary, and 1 tbsp of the parsley with 1 cup of vegetable stock. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Allow to simmer for a couple of minutes then add the bread cubes. Mix all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Mix well with cranberry sauce and dried cranberries.

Fill the zucchini shells with stuffing. Bake in the center of the oven until the top is golden brown and crunchy – about 40 minutes. When it’s done baking top it with the left over parsley (1 tbsp).


Notes:
K and I made these as the appetizer for last night's dinner party. They were super flavorful due to the incredible amount of herbs added. I added a little extra cranberry sauce. Next time I would probably chop the cranberry sauce before adding it as it clumped and didn't really break up as I stirred the stuffing.