Zucchini Pizza Boats {The Recipe}

I posted a photo of our dinner one night last week on Facebook and got a nice response from that image.  Several people even asked for the recipe.

Here's the photo I posted...

Zucchini Pizza Boats

And, yea, they were as good as they look!

CountryBoy and I love pizza (well, anything with red sauce actually!) but since going gluten-free we, sadly, haven't found a local pizza place that serves gluten-free pizza.  And, if you just happen to find a frozen one in the grocery store they tend to be quite pricey.

Around the same time we changed our diet I won this beautiful book, Paleo Indulgences, from a giveaway Patrice at Everyday Ruralty was hosting.

Perfect timing I'd say!  (I'm still planning on doing a post about our change of diet... some day!)

This book is chock full of recipes that will satisfy your cravings for breads, cookies, candy and even ice cream.  (An ice cream maker is on my wish list before summer hits!)  Who says being on a healthy diet has to be boring and tasteless?!

While this book primarily focuses on satisfying your cravings it also has several tasty main dishes, of which I've made several along with some of the sweets, and they've all been delicious!

So, without further ado, here's the recipe many of you have asked for...

Zucchini Pizza Boats

Makes 4 servings

Sauce

1/4 cup (60mL) olive oil

1 small onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup (40 g) chopped parsley

1 28-oz (831 mL) can tomato sauce

2 4-oz (113 g) cans tomato paste

1 28-oz (831 mL) can diced tomatoes

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp basil

Pinch rosemary

1 tsp sea salt

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Zucchini

4 large zucchini, washed, ends trimmed off, cut in half lengthwise

Toppings of choice (uncured pepperoni, salami, Italian sausage, ground beef, caramelized onions, black olives, sundried tomatoes, etc.)

1.  Preheat the oven to 400°F.

2.  Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat.  Add the onion and cook until soft, about 5 minutes.

3.  Add the garlic and parsley.  Stir.

4.  Add the remaining sauce ingredients, stirring well to combine.  Turn the heat down to low and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes.

5.  Meanwhile, clean and prep the zucchini.  With a spoon, hollow out the middle of each half, removing only enough flesh to make a shallow well.  Place the zucchini on a parchment-lined baking sheet, hollowed-out side up.

6.  Spoon some sauce into each zucchini.  Top with your favorite items.

7.  Bake about 20 minutes, or until toppings are cooked, sauce is bubbling, and zucchini are soft.

Note:  To make a true pizza sauce, puree with and immersion blender.  Store leftover sauce in small Mason jars in the freezer.

My notes:

*The sauce is the key to this delicious recipe.

*I use the leftover sauce as my base for spaghetti sauce adding more garlic, onion, mushrooms and peppers (if I have any) and either lean ground beef or bison.  Sometimes I don't even add the meat, it's that good!

*I don't puree my sauce.  I like the chunks of diced tomatoes in it.

*Add whatever you have on hand for the toppings.  The toppings on the above photo are onions, red  and yellow peppers, mushrooms and black olives topped with mozzarella cheese.

*I forgot to use parchment paper last time and it was still OK.

*Serve with a nice salad using many of the same ingredients as on the pizza boats.

That's it folks!  Easy peasy!  And, it satisfies our pizza cravings and is much healthier than crust, mmmm!

The author of Paleo Indulgence, Tammy Credicott, has another cookbook out, The Healthy Gluten-Free Life, that I don't have yet, and another is due out in September that I'm really interested in entitled 'Make Ahead Paleo' that can be pre-ordered at a discount.  Check them out if you're interested in some tasty, good-for-you recipes that you can actually live by.

Please note:  For copyright purposes, this post has been approved by the author of Paleo Indulgences and creator of the recipe, Tammy Credicott.

Till next time,