Zucchini Parmesan
June 15th, 2011 Print
Ingredients:
5 zucchinis
1 cup Parmesan cheese
1 cup breadcrumbs
2 eggs
1/4 cup of milk
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon dry oregano (optional)
2 cups of fresh mozzarella (grated Mozzarella is alright, but fresh Mozzarella is always better!)
This is my favorite and most simple way to make sauce. San Marzano are great Italian tomatoes that give a more gourmet taste to a tomato sauce. I try not to use store bought tomato sauce after I started making my own! Once you go fresh you never go jarred! The reason I say olive oil to taste is because everyone has their own opinion regarding olive oil – perhaps someone is watching their calorie intake and might want to use a little less. That’s okay for this recipe. This sauce is great with very little olive oil, but can create a strong taste with more olive oil, depending on one’s taste.
Sauce-
2 Cans of La Valle San Marzano tomatoes
5 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup of basil
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon of crushed red pepper
Olive oil to taste
Directions:
1. SAUCE: Dice the tomatoes, mince the garlic, and, chiffonade (thinly slice) the basil. Heat a deep-dish skillet with some olive oil and combine the tomatoes, garlic, and crushed red pepper. Add salt and pepper to taste. Cook the mixture through until thickened on medium heat. Once the sauce has formed now would be the time to add some olive oil. I would put about 2 -3 tablespoon and throw in the basil. Fresh basil gives a richer taste than cooking out the basil from the beginning. (A quicker way to make the sauce would be throw all the ingredients in a skillet over medium heat, cook until it starts to thicken and then blend using an immersion blender. The downside to this method though is that you lose the chunky, heartier texture of the sauce. But still tastes great!)
2. ZUCCHINI: Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a medium baking dish. Heat olive oil in a (separate) large skillet over medium-high heat. Mix salt, pepper, oregano, 1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese, and breadcrumbs on waxed paper. In a shallow bowl, beat eggs with milk and tablespoon of olive oil.
3. Dip zucchini in eggs, and then the breadcrumb mixture. Place onto skillet without overlapping. Cook zucchini, turning once, until golden, about 5 minutes per side. For a healthier alternative, you can bake the zucchinis at 350 until golden brown.
4. LAYERING: Lastly, take the greased baking dish and start the layering as you would a lasagna: first, a layer of zucchini, then a layer of sauce, then Parmesan and Mozzarella, repeat. Continue the layering until you have finished up all the zucchini or there is no room to continue. Bake zucchini until cheese is melted and bubbly, about 30 minutes.
This looks super easy and tasty! Will try it out since I growin tomatoes and basil, will help use them up as well!
Such a fun way to prepare zucchini!
It is vegetarian week at Get Grillin’ we would love if you submitted up to any 3 recipes (they don’t have to be grilled) to our link up. This one would be perfect!
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Hi again, tried you on your contact form but it bounced. A quick reminder for your 2 submissions:
A quick reminder –
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Marla and Dara
Family Fresh Cooking & Cookin’ Canuck
What a great way to use up summer’s bumper crop of zucchini!
Hello and thanks for the recipe. I’m working on the dish right now. What’s the trick to getting the batter to stick to the sliced zucchini? Mine is not sticking. Used the egg wash as directed. Only thing I added was a little powdered garlic to the crumb mixture. Do you use grated or shredded Parmesan cheese? I used shredded because it’s what I had on hand. Would it make a difference?
Thanks for any advice.
-Joe
Hi Joe.
Glad to hear your trying it. I’ve used both kinds of parmesan. The gratedr one will stick better, but i liked the way shredded parmesan comes out. I think you can taste the parmesan much better. When i make it, not all the of breading sticks on and you will not notice a difference with the finish product because there is still enough that has stuck on and it really turns out delicious. If you wanted you could try putting the zucchini in regular flour first then egg then the bread crumb mixture.
Goodluck
Love to hear what you thought of it!
I know from experience that the trick to getting beading mixture to stick to zucchinis is to slice one disc at a time. If you prep all your zucchini at once, the slices will “weep”- small drops of water seep out. If you’re careful to cut one slice at a time, they remain dry and the bread crumb mixture should stick.
Thanks for the recipe!
Thanks Jasmine and Kat for your advice. I’ll try your suggestions. The dish was really good. I ended up just scraping up the cooked batter from the saute pan and layering that on the zucchini slices when putting the dish together. Will definitely make this again.
- Joe
Thanks Jasmine and Kat for your advice. I’ll try your suggestions. The dish was really good. I ended up just scraping up the cooked batter from the saute pan and layering that on the zucchini slices when putting the dish together. Will definitely make this again.
- Joe