Supper Club: These cheesy courgette boats are a great (and simple!) snack idea

These cheesy courgette boats are light in terms of calories, yet full of flavour. This is also a great way of using up the ends of that loaf of 100% sourdough spelt bread that you haven’t got around to using. Instead of throwing it out, whizz it into breadcrumbs and freeze them if you’re not using them straight away.

Cheesy Courgette Boats
Serves 4

Preparation time 10 minutes

Cooking time 40 minutes

Ingredients

• 700g/8 small or 4 large courgettes
• 2 tsp olive oil, plus extra to grease
• 1 egg, beaten
• ½ tsp dried mixed herbs
• 40g ground almonds
• 110g grated Cheddar or Gruyére
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 110g gluten-free breadcrumbs
• chopped fresh parsley, to garnish

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Lightly grease a baking tray. Halve the courgettes lengthways. Scoop out the seeds and most of the flesh and put to one side, making sure you leave enough skin and flesh on the courgette boat to hold its shape once cooked. Chop the reserved flesh, squeezing it in your hands to extract the excess water, and set aside.
2. Place the courgette boats on the greased baking tray, hollow side down, and roast in oven for 10 minutes to soften them. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
3. Heat the olive oil in a frying pan set over a medium heat. Add the chopped courgette flesh and cook for 5 minutes.
4. Combine the cooked courgette in a bowl with the beaten egg and herbs, then stir in the ground almonds, half of the cheese and some salt and pepper. Turn the boats right side up and spoon in the filling.
5. Combine the remaining cheese and breadcrumbs to use as a topping, sprinkling it over each courgette boat. Return to the oven for a further 20 minutes, until golden brown. Garnish with chopped fresh parsley and serve.

Extracted from Gut Feeling: Delicious Low FODMAP Recipes to Soothe the Symptoms of a Sensitive Gut by Lorraine Maher and Paula Mee (Gill Books). Photographs by Joanne Murphy.