I’ve been promising to write about the stuffed pans for a few weeks now. Thanks for your patience! The patty pan (I’ve heard anecdotally) is popular in Europe, but not as well known in the U.S. I was recently asked, “Is that a squash that grew in a funny way?” In fact, the disk-like patty pan grows deliberately in a scallop, rounded shape. It is wonderful to roast, sautee or even stuff (which we’ll talk about next!). It isn’t as watery as yellow squash or zucchini.
The first step is to hollow out your patty pan. I like to use small-medium sized patty pans for this recipe so everyone can have one or two, but you can also make them with a large patty pan and divide it up for your household.
I’m not going to lie the filling has a lot of ingredients and can be a bit tedious, but is well worth the effort. This stuffing is also great in stuffed bell peppers and honestly even on its own. This recipe makes a lot of stuffing so you can freeze it and stuff another round of patty pans or peppers in the future. I hope you enjoy!
Stuffed Patty Pans
Ingredients
- Patty Pans, 3-4 large or 6-8 small-medium sized
- 1/2 Onion
- 1 stalk celery
- 1 small carrot
- 1 garlic clove
- 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
- Olive Oil
- 1 pound of ground turkey
- 1, 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1 cup of couscous
- 1 1/2 cups golden raisins
- 1 1/2 cups grated asiago cheese
- 3 tbsps red wine vinegar
- 1 cup chopped fresh parsley
- 1/4 cup tomato paste
- Salt and pepper
Directions
- First make the filling. Pulse the onion, celery, carrot, garlic and rosemary in a food processor until finely chopped. Heat some olive oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the chopped vegetables and cook until soft. Add the ground turkey, 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp of pepper and cook breaking up the meat. Add the tomatoes, milk, 1 cup of water and 1/2 tsp salt. Bring to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer until slightly thickened.
- Assemble the Patty Pans. Cut the stems/most of the tops off and use a spoon to scoop out the flesh of the patty pan middle (you can save this and sautee with some garlic for a side dish or future meal). Preheat the oven to 350. Toss the hollowed out patty pans with olive oil, salt and pepper and bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until soft.
- Meanwhile, mix the filling with the couscous (you don’t need to cook the couscous separately), raisins 1 cup of cheese, 1 1/2 tbsps vinegar, parsley and 1/2 tsp salt.
- In a separate bowl mix 2 tbsps olive oil, 1 1/2 tbsps vinegar, the tomato paste, and 1 1/4 cups water. Pour mixture into a large nonreactive baking dish. Carefully transfer the patty pans into the dish (on top of the olive oil, vinegar tomato paste, and water concoction). Spoon the filling into each patty pan, be generous with how much you fill each one! Sprinkle with the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese.
- Bake for 10 minutes without foil, and cover with foil for the remaining 10 minutes or until golden on top.
- Take out of the oven and spoon the liquid on the bottom of the pan over the top of the patty pans.
- Serve immediately or save for later. Enjoy!