Tuesday, September 22, 2009

Zucchini "Lasagna"

I'm still working on some of the amazing vegetables that mom and dad brought down from the garden last week. I had quite possibly, the largest zucchini squash that you've ever seen. I had big plans of stuffing it with ground turkey, veggies and cheese but I was looking for something quick and easy on Sunday night so I called an audible at the last minute. I still had a huge container of fresh tomato sauce that we made for the strombolis so I decided on a baked zucchini casserole that really turned out to be similar to a lasagna. I sliced the zucchini thinly. Again this thing was huge so it was probably the equivalent of 3 or 4 normal sized ones. I greased a baking dish (med sized, smaller than a 9 x 13") and started with a thin layer of sauce at the bottom. I then layered zucchini slices, slightly overlapping each other. I topped that with some fresh buffalo mozzarella, some freshly sliced basil (maybe 3 leaves), a sprinkle of dried oregano, and a generous grating of parmesan cheese. I repeated the layers once more: sauce, zucchini, cheese and herbs. I then ended with a third layer of zucchini, topped that with sauce and then sprinkled more parm and a few thin slices of mozzarella on the very top. OH! and I actually had two lonely Italian chicken sausages in the fridge that I browned, crumbled and tossed in with the cheese layers. You could add more sausage to "beef" up the dish as a main course or go without for a vegetarian meal or side dish. I covered the pan with foil and baked it at 375 for about 30 minutes. Then removed the foil and baked for another 20 or 25 minutes until brown and bubbly. (I would stick a knife through the middle to see if the zucchini at the bottom of the dish is tender to ensure its cooked through.) You could also blanch or par boil the squash before assembly to cut the cooking time down. Sunday we had the "lasagna" straight up with some garlic toast on the side. However Monday, I served it over whole wheat rotini pasta (I tossed the pasta with some left over sauce) and it was a bit more substantial. Next time, I might add some eggplant slices and roasted red peppers to jazz it up even more.

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