Last week at the farm, the words on everyone’s lips were “zucchini boats.” I had never heard of zucchini boats, and, I suppose not to my surprise, each CSA sharer told me a different way to make them. Some were made Italian-style, with tomato sauce and chopped eggplant, some were made with beef and taco cheese. I scoured the internet to see what it had to say, and I settled on creating my own.

To the little pearls of quinoa, I mixed in bright orange sweet peppers, dark green zucchini, white onions, and yellow corn. This time of year you can’t get away from corn, and I certainly can’t get enough of it, and the little bursts of sweetness compliment the crunchy zucchini shells.

This recipe is vegetarian, but skip the cheddar cheese and these zucchini boats become vegan, or add beef instead of quinoa and these zucchini boats become a meat lover’s dream. If you have leftover vegetable mixture, try stuffing eggplants, bell peppers, or taco shells!

Zucchini Boats with Summer Corn and Sweet Peppers

Makes 6 servings

Total time: 30 minutes

In My Basket

1 ear of Corn (from Tangerini’s Spring Street Farm, Millis MA)

3 medium Zucchini (from Stearns Farm, Framingham MA)

1 medium orange Sweet Pepper (from Stearns Farm, Framingham MA)

1 small yellow Onion (from Stearns Farm, Framingham MA)

1 clove fresh Garlic (from Stearns Farm, Framingham MA)

Small bunch of fresh Basil (from Stearns Farm, Framingham MA)

1 cup of grated Cheddar Cheese (from Narragansett Creamery, Providence RI)

2 tbsp Olive Oil (from FIORE, Bar Harbour ME)

From the Pantry

1/2 cup quinoa

salt and pepper, to taste

1. Cook quinoa according to package directions while continuing with steps 2 – 3.
2. Preheat the oven to 400°. Wash and dry fresh produce. Halve zucchini lengthwise. Scoop out pulp with a teaspoon and place in a medium bowl. Arrange zucchini halves in a baking dish, set aside. Small dice pepper and onion, mince the garlic, cut corn off the cob, and place all together in the dish with the pulp. Roughly chop the basil, set aside.
3. In a medium sauté pan, heat 1 tbsp olive oil over medium heat. Add the bowl of vegetables, season with salt and pepper, and cook for about 5 minutes or until the vegetables soften and the juices have evaporated. Remove from heat and add the basil.
4. Add the cooked quinoa to the vegetable mixture and mix thoroughly.
5. Using a basting brush, brush zucchini halves with remaining olive oil. Using a teaspoon, spoon the quinoa vegetable mixture into the zucchini halves. Sprinkle each zucchini boat with grated cheese, and season with salt and pepper. Place zucchini boats in preheated oven, and cook for 20 minutes or until cheese has melted and the zucchini is lightly browned on top.
6. Pull from oven and serve immediately. Enjoy!

Alice Kathryn Richardson is a new media photojournalist based in Boston, MA. She created The Clean Food Club in 2016, and previously spent two years working on Deserts in the District, a series of short-form documentaries exploring food access and hunger in Washington, DC. She is committed to supporting local and sustainable food businesses by telling their stories with photo and video. Follow her on Twitter @AKR_Pictures.