Sustainable recipe
Stuffed courgette boats in 15 minutes: deliciously sustainable
Do you also care about the environment? But do you sometimes lack the inspiration to prepare a healthy and sustainable meal after a long day at work? We are happy to help out! Dennis Vink, of the successful blog Plantbased Dennis, has created a sustainable recipe especially for us. It’s not only delicious, but also easy to make in just 15 minutes. Enjoy your meal!
Making sustainable food choices reduces your footprint. And since you eat several times a day, you can make a big impact on the environment that way..
‘Real meat lovers will also like this recipe.’
Sustainable eating
Eating sustainably first of all means not eating more than you need and to throw away as little food as possible. It also helps to choose products with low climate impact. Plant‑based food is known to be better for the climate than meat, fish and dairy.
Plant‑based food is almost the same as vegan food, although the latter goes a bit further. Then you avoid animal products altogether, both in your diet and in your clothes and cosmetics. A plant‑based diet focuses on plant‑based ingredients, such as fruits, vegetables and nuts. Dairy products, such as eggs, cheese and milk, are avoided as much as possible. That also makes plant‑based food different from vegetarian food.
Benefits of plant-based eating
“A plant-based diet is good for the climate, nature, your own health, public health and for animals”, explains biologist and blogger Dennis Vink. “It reduces water consumption, deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions. Most of us grew up on a diet full of meat and cheese, so changing this habit may take some getting used to.”
“Fortunately, you don’t suddenly have to eat or live very differently. These days supermarkets sell a vegan variation of almost every animal product there is. You can therefore keep making your old familiar recipes, but with a plant-based alternative. Type in the animal product used in your recipe or your favourite dish in a search engine, add the word ‘vegan’ in front of it and you instantly get dozens of options.”
“This recipe is a good example. I ate these delicious courgette boats very regularly before I made the switch to vegan six years ago. And now I still eat them, and find them just as delicious! Meat and cheese substitutes make the switch to plant based eating very easy. Also for real meat lovers, as I used to be.”
Stuffed courgette boats with mushrooms, ‘mince’ and grated ‘cheese’
Serves 2, preparation time: 15 minutes.
Ingredients
• 2 large courgettes
• 200 - 300g vegan ‘mince’
• 250g chestnut mushrooms, preferably locally grown
• 75g sun-dried tomatoes
• 100-140g tomato purée
• 1 large red onion
• 1 garlic clove
• 2 tsp thyme
• 40g vegan ‘grated cheese’ (the picture shows Parmesan, but grated vegan cheese works and melts better)
Tip: Want to see how Dennis makes this in a few seconds? Watch this video on Instagram!
Preparation
• Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
• Slice the courgette in halves lengthwise and carefully scoop out the centre pulp with a spoon. Set the scooped pulp aside.
• Finely chop the onion and fry in a thin layer of oil.
• Add the chopped garlic and fry for 2 min.
• Add the vegan mince and fry until al dente.
• Add the mushrooms, fry for 3 min on medium heat.
• Briefly add the courgette pulp and then add the tomato purée, thyme and, finally, the sun-dried tomatoes.
• In a large baking dish, brush the courgette boats with oil and fill the boats.
• Sprinkle with a layer of grated vegan cheese and bake in the oven for ±20 minutes.
Recipe’s climate impact
Dennis: “This recipe’s climate impact is very low. Plant-based mince produces 90% less greenhouse gases than normal mince. It requires 99% less water, 93% less land and 46% less energy than the animal-based version. This is evident from research by the University of Michigan. Plant-based cheese production creates only half the greenhouse gases of animal-based cheese.
Want to make the recipe even healthier and more sustainable? Replace the mince with chickpeas or tofu and the cheese with nutritional yeast flakes with breadcrumbs and soy milk.”
Who is Dennis Vink?
Dennis Vink is a biologist. On his Instagram account Plantbased Dennis he shares daily information, tips, recipes and other inspiration for plant-based eating. He also regularly publishes articles about these subjects on his zijn website, with the same name. This way, he aims to make the switch to a plant-based diet as fun, easy, sensical and delicious as possible.
