The Richmond Community Kitchen resumed operation in September. The first kitchen took place at the Gilmore Park Church.

Minoo prepared 3 recipes for this first kitchen. The main dish is a healthier version of meat loaf with the incorporation of zucchini. Zucchini is a summer squash. Zucchini has a delicate flavour and requires little cooking cooking time. You can steam, boil, grill, bake, barbecue or fry it.

Here are some of recipes using zucchini that we had made in the community kitchens:

• Ratatouille
• Zucchini Chocolate Cake
• Curried Zucchini Soup
• Potato Mousse with Zucchini
• Zucchini Rice Caserole
• Zucchini and Cheddar Muffin

Zucchini is low in calories (approximately 15 calories for 100g of fresh zucchini). It contains useful amount of folate, potassium, Vitamin A and manganese.

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons Dijon honey mustard
• 2  to 3 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 lemon
• 1 large egg
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3/4 teaspoon salt or to taste
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper or to taste
• 1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1/2 pound zucchini (about 2 small zucchini), coarsely grated
• 1/2 cup flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 1 pound lean ground beef

Source: via Minoo

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400F.Using a vegetable peeler, remove 2 strips of the zest from the lemon. Minced the zest.

In a large bowl,combine together the egg, garlic, lemon zest, salt and pepper,  oats, zucchini, parsley and beef. Mix until incorporated. We made a mistake on the preparation of the zucchini. Instead of coarsely grate it, we chopped it. We added ketchup and olive oil to moisten the mixture. The best way to mix is using your hand. The chopped zucchini makes the mixing a little challenging.

Place the mixture into a baking dish or loaf pan, patting it flat. Bake for 25 minutes or longer if using a loaf pan where the loaf will be thicker. Baste the top of the meat loaf with the honey mustard sauce during the last 10 minutes of cooking.

Let the meat loaf rest for 5 minutes before slicing. The meat loaf turned out great as we like the texture of the zucchini where we can actually get the crunch of the zucchini. The grated zucchini version will suit family with fussy kids who do not like vegetable.

Minoo also prepared some roasted Bliss potatoes to serve with the meat loaf. Simply cut the potatoes into halves and brush them with a combination of olive oil, paprika, dried rosemary, salt and pepper. Roast in a preheated 400F oven for 15 to 20 minutes or until the potatoes are tender.