Harvesting the Zucchini

I've never met a piece a produce I didn't like, besides perhaps a brussel sprout, so when my coworker asked if I wanted a zucchini from her garden, I had my hands out before she even finished the sentence.

Imagine my surprise when she lifted an enormous tote bag and extracted the king of zucchini. Huge. More produce than a single girl could eat in a week, but I wasn't saying no to that challenge.

I photographed with teacup for a bit of size reference.

A zucchini of that girth made me think of one of my all time favorite cool weather foods....

While it's just the nights that are cool at this point, that was enough excuse to whip up a batch of eggplant parm, oh, with a bit of a twist. It was more like zucchini parm with a bit of eggplant. And of course, I chose to bake instead of fry....if you can't tell the difference....

Step one is slicing up the veggies and sprinkling with salt. Let rest for 20 minutes to extract extra water and bitter flavors and then rinse in cool water.

Crack 2 eggs and scramble in one dish. Pour 2 cups bread crumbs in another and season with 2 tbsp garlic powder, 1 tbsp salt, cracked black pepper and 2 tsp dried parsley. Dip eggplant and zucchini in egg mixture and then into breadcrumbs. Lay on baking sheet and then bake for 20mins at 400 degrees.

Layer bottom of casserole dish with 1/2 cup pasta sauce, add one layer of zucchini and cover with 1/2 cup shredded mozarella and 1/4 cup grated parmesan. Add 1/2 to 1 cup of pasta sauce depending on your sauce preference, and then cover with a layer of the baked eggplant. Repeat cheese and sauce layer and then add one additional layer of zucchini. Cover with sauce...and a layer of fresh basil. I know most like to chop the basil, but I love the flavor and it's so much more concentrated in it's full leaf form.

Top with a bit more cheese and bake at 350 for 20 minutes.

I am a big fan of homemade pasta sauce...anything to avoid processed food if it's easy enough. I don't know when I started adding balsamic vinegar to my sauce, but if you add it balsamic early, the vinegar cooks off and you just have a hint of that complex sweet balsamic flavor.

Tomato Sauce

3 15 oz cans of crushed tomatoes

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 medium onion, diced

1 carrot finely diced.

1/4 cup chopped basil

1 tsp brown sugar

3 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup red wine

splash of olive oil

1. Heat olive oil in large saucepan over medium low heat.

2. Add onions and carrots and sautee until tender.

3. Add garlic and sautee for 2 minutes

4. Pour in the tomatoes and remaing ingredients and allow to simmer for 30 mins.

5. Puree using a blender. I just pop a stick blender right into the pan and get most of the big chucks, leaving some smaller chunks.