Stuffed ball zucchini

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 4 zucchini (ball zucchini), approx. 350 g each
• 2 cup(s) spelt like rice
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 4 bratwursts (fine pork sausages)
• 1 cup crème fraîche with herbs, reduced fat
• 250 g mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 600 g tomatoes, pureed
• 200 ml broth, of your choice
• 2 tsp, heaped spice mix (bruschetta spice)
• 1 sugar cube
• 2 shallots, sliced
• Clarified butter
• 1 bay leaf
• salt and pepper

Instructions

Working time approx. 40 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 50 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 30 minutes

Bring the vegetable stock to a boil and cook the spelt like rice for about 15 minutes. Drain if necessary and set aside. In the meantime, wash the zucchini, cut off a lid, and hollow it out. Heat the clarified butter, sauté a shallot, add the mushrooms, and fry briefly. Deglaze with the tomatoes and stock, add the bruschetta seasoning, sugar cubes, and bay leaf, season with salt and pepper, and then simmer for a few minutes. Heat the clarified butter again and sauté the remaining shallot, then remove from the frying fat, as you don’t want it to overcook. Squeeze the sausage meat out of the sausages and fry well in the frying fat. Use a spatula to mash the meat well every now and then to prevent it from sticking together too much. Add the spelt like rice and fry briefly. Stir in the crème fraîche with herbs and the reserved shallots. Season as needed. It depends on the seasoning of the sausages, but this is often enough. Sprinkle a little salt into the inside of the zucchini, then fill with the mixture and press down firmly. Close the lid. Pour the tomato sauce into a sufficiently large casserole dish and place the zucchini in it. Divide any leftover filling between the two. Cook in a preheated oven at 200°C (fan oven) for about 30 minutes. Note: After this cooking time, my zucchini still had a slight bite. That was my intention.