The Odd Fork was once a little fork and not so odd yet. At the time it used to pinch mom's food, as all little beings do. It's favorite mom's meal were baked stuffed vegetables, like tomatoes, green peppers and zucchinis. The little fork just loved the tender, cooked rice with the flavors of summer vegetables and aromatic herbs like basil or spearmint. This traditional vegetarian Greek meal was -and still is- for The Odd Fork, the epitome of comfort food.

So when The Odd Fork found in the local open fruit market nice, fresh summer zucchinis it remembered the old, mom's stuffed zucchinis. But since now it's big and odd, it made something similar to mom's recipe with a twist though -it just couldn't do it any other way! 😏

For a medium rectangular casserole, it used:

- olive oil

- an onion finely chopped

- a clove of garlic finely chopped

- salt, pepper, some dried spearmint leaves (powder)

- half a packet of risotto rice (about 200 to 250 grams)

- 2 medium carrots finely shredded  

- some black raisins and some sunflower seeds

- a bunch of fresh dill finely chopped (only the top, tender parts)

- zucchinis (so many as needed)

- some extra olive oil, dried spearmint leaves (powder), salt + pepper

To make this simple yet unusual meal, do like The Odd Fork the following: In a large sauce pan, sauté onion and garlic in a tbsp of olive oil. Add the rice, salt, pepper and dried spearmint (even better fresh spearmint if you can find it) and stir with a wooden spatula.
Add enough water to cover the rice and when it boils add carrots, raisins and sunflower seeds, cover and simmer for about 15 - 20 minutes or until rice is tender. Then increase the heat, uncover and stirring often let the mixture thicken, just like making risotto. Add dill just before removing from the stove and mix well.
Set aside.
And now is the odd thing about the recipe: You' re gonna need a peeler, so that you can cut large strips of each zucchini. Arrange zucchini strips onto an oiled rectangular baking casserole in such a way as to cover the bottom and the sides of the casserole. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and dried, ground spearmint, drizzle with olive oil and bake in a preheated oven, at 400F, for 10 - 15 minutes until zucchini strips are tender and slightly, light brown.

Place the rice mixture over the almost baked zucchini strips and cover the surface again with new, raw zucchini strips. It' s like making a pie with zucchini strips up and down, instead of pastry! Again drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper and dried, ground spearmint and again bake in a preheated oven, at 400F for almost 20 minutes, or until top zucchini strips are tender and slightly, light brown.

Let cool for 30 - 40 minutes before cutting in square pieces. The Odd Fork paired this meal successfully with white, Greek wine (Greek wine types like Malagousia or Moschofilero are excellent for this) and enjoyed its lunch to the maximum. The soft texture of the cooked rice with the mild flavor of zucchinis and carrots contracted by the intensity of pepper and dried spearmint and the sweetness of black raisins together with dill's freshness, made the meal balanced and delicious!
That different kind of zucchini pie was so reminiscent of mom, summery and unusual, as the Odd Fork wished it to be!