I was sent some seeds of a Maltese zucchini called qarabali. I've never grown zucchini before, but with free seed I thought I'd give it a shot. On Friday it made its first female flower, which I hand fertilized with a male flower, and by Sunday this was here to greet me!
![http://www.alexareynolds.com/garden11/zucchinijan.JPG](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_sAomssBvzYHxccjQixGIEzhoberfHBoYc7iKzL2MOfZsG0vNhbllMMJVjaYnrGTkGUrCQ4cuCE9NMQA8qpC9M9_WzmFojAysRnPwtAkFmfsMCTw8HZFuBL=s0-d)
By Wednesday it was time to pick it. Pretty fast turnaround.
![http://www.alexareynolds.com/garden11/zucchini1.JPG](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_tQqdg66PQmlp_4jbIFQ1dHQzs5Jtaz1EwLW3ieigB-OaTXASDp1h112ugbJcsmFW5EQQokCOeNo1t8Dv7XlEIefn5yBk6sdpWpSJbNilC3y10VsNLwaA=s0-d)
As you can see, qarabali is a round zucchini made for stuffing. So that's what I did! After reading a few recipes for inspiration I had a go without a recipe. Shallots, pumpkin, the insides of the zucchini and some raisins along with couscous and Moroccan spices. Not all the stuffing fit so I ate the rest as a side dish.
![http://www.alexareynolds.com/garden11/zucchini2.JPG](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_uFv1FOUPkwYtmp5K29vRQJl5T92YSQe5R8sB1O-sY0lz0QnIDCgYao-ySjmPN2VlntGVJWZeflpJkpVSQoir8vE4cx1MmmP_8ZTMYO1fLRaGElvtND=s0-d)
It was pretty tasty if I do say so myself. The zucchini itself is very mild, almost like a cucumber, so it's better with the stuffing. Now if I'm lucky, I'll have a massive glut of them before long, zucchini is notorious for either never setting fruit or setting more than you could possibly eat.
![](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/blogger_img_proxy/AEn0k_vuf1wf7zmvg3hWL3RCIsqg1yimSE0biojqgzWc6ViHufsq5VUoXAh9GQNvIBj_qm7I6K1Nl9NEUt0Ov-drlLJd7QA1mXQGE5q8gdd9MfVJ-Wz5Btth6yaVU5RVCglC4bt8PSIQOarbunnYmaQ=s0-d)
Wednesday 26 January 2011
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comments:
Yum, I love qarabali!! There are two ways to cook it which are traditional Maltese cuisine. One is to chop it up and fry it in a lot of olive oil with some bacon and onion. The other recipe is to stuff it with pork and veal mince among other things. I'll be posting a recipe for the latter on my blog www.5sensescooking.blogspot.com tonight! After reading this, I might try my hand at growing some qarabali myself.
Post a Comment