I know it's been a while; four months since my last post! It's not that I haven't been cooking, because of course I have, and I even have a few new favorites up my sleeve, but getting it together enough to post it is a whole other story. I have at least two posts in me for now, so I'll give you this one and then maybe another one in a few days. I'm doing this one first because, well it's zucchini season and we all need some fresh ideas to use them all up, and second because it's my new favorite. I've made this twice in the past two days!
I made it for the first time yesterday. A friend of mine was generous enough to let me part-take in her CSA box while she was out of town. In the box was a wonderful assortment of goodies including two nice big zucchini, I also had three nice big zucchini already in my refrigerator at home. They are like rabbits, they multiply fast this time of year. Anyway, we were having a little pool party/pot luck so I decided to share the abundant amount of zucchini by making this dish.
Basically, I wanted a lasagna roll up without the pasta. At first I was going to make super thin slices of raw zucchini to make rolling easy, but then I began to worry about how much liquid the zucchini would put out as it baked. I decided on thicker slices, baked in the oven to soften them for use. This was good plan, I like the flavor it gives the zucchini, plus there's more zucchini per roll. In the middle of it I thought, Wow! maybe this is better in theory than actually doing it, but they turned out great, so I'm glad I stuck with it. I sliced the zucchini's by hand, but if you have a mandoline that will allow you to slice them the correct thickness, that would be the way to go. In fact, I put my order in for one on Amazon today!
Zucchini Rolls-Ups
Serving Size : 8
32 ounces crushed tomatoes
4 cloves garlic, crushed
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion
1/8 cup red wine
salt and pepper
1/8 cup fresh basil
4 Large zucchini squash
6 ounces mozzarella cheese, cut into small pieces
15 ounces ricotta cheese
3 ounces shredded parmesan cheese
1 large egg
Prepare a basic tomato sauce. Saute onion in olive oil to soften, add the garlic and cook a minute longer. Add the crushed tomatoes, red wine and fresh basil. Simmer until ready to use.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Slice zucchini lengthwise into 1/8 thick strips. Spray a few sheet pans with cooking spray and lay the slices out in a single layer. Spray with cooking spray and season with salt and pepper. Roast zucchini strips for 15-20 minutes, until soft enough to roll. Pull the pans out and let them cool.
Meanwhile, combine mozzarella, ricotta, Parmesan and egg. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a shallow casserole dish with cooking spray and ladle in enough sauce to barely coat the bottom. Spread a generous tablespoon or so of the ricotta mixture on to each zucchini slice. Roll each piece up and place it in the casserole dish. Once all pieces are rolled up, drizzle more tomatoes sauce on top.
Cover and bake 20 minutes. Remove the foil and then bake 10 minutes longer or until bubbly.
