What would you do? (zucchini)

I know that a whole lot of you are just gearing up for your warm weather. I, on the other hand, have had enough warm weather that my garden is beginning the end of the Spring glut. This means that all that extra zucchini that I've had around the house is starting to fade away now. This is something that a lot of people can't quite fathom.

But, I have a saving grace. Gardening in Florida may mean a very short Spring season, but it means I get to do it all over again in the Fall! Whoohooo!  I don't normally get completely sick of the amount of zucchini that I get from my garden. (Remember, I've got a very small garden space so I don't have a lot of plants) But, I do get an abundance of it when my plants are at their peak. I know a lot of people don't know what to do with all of their extra squash when it comes at them so fast, so I thought I'd throw this out there.

This is not an exact recipe as much as it is a cooking suggestion. This is because like almost everything that I make... I just can't seem to follow an exact recipe. Try as I might - I just can't. I'm forever changing things or just winging it. I can't help it. I even intentionally set out to measure everything I did so I could post it as this is a  constantly requested favorite. Go figure.

 

If you have a picky zucchini eater, or a lot of company, or just a glut of zucchini... THIS is just the thing for you!

 

Roasted Zucchini w/ Mozzarella & Tomato

Ingredients (roughly):

Zucchini - 1/2 pound (whatever you have on hand)

Your favorite seasoning mix

Sea salt in grinder

Grape seed oil or Olive oil

Mozzarella Cheese (shortcut alert! If you have young kids grab the cheese sticks!)

Fresh tomato - sliced

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 420*

Line baking pan with foil and spray with cooking oil

Slice zucchini ends of and slice in half lengthwise, if zucchini is very large slice again so that all zucchini is uniform thickness roughly for even cooking.

Score with a fork like so:







 Rub the grape seed oil or olive oil over the grooved side of the zucchini... yes the grooves are very important. DO NOT forget the grooves. They do two things. They help hold on to the ingredients AND they hold all those wonderful spices in. YUMMO! You don't want to miss out on all that wonderfulness!
OK, Now that you have the grooves all oiled you need to sprinkle generously your favorite seasonings and pop that sucker into the oven for a good 20 minutes. You may even need a few minutes longer depending on the size of the squash. DO NOT BE AFRAID. It really isn't too long to cook the zucchini, even at 420. I promise. It seems like  lot but this is what you get:

Note the wonderfulness. The smell from that is absolutely amazing by the way. It tastes OK, but then it just doesn't taste anything nearly as good as it will in just a few minutes! Now, add the mozzarella cheese and the tomatoes to the top of the zucchini and put it back in the oven. Keep an eye on this now because the cheese can get bubbly in about 5 minutes and while bubbly is nice, burnt is not so nice.

 

 

VOILA!

 

Sprinkle on the sea salt and serve OK and fresh ground pepper if you like that stuff!

(Don't forget this step it's important!)

 

You now have something even the teenager at my house will eat! That is right. I kid you not.

I would not kid about such an event. The boy is getting picky these days. He's almost 15 so you know, being cool is like- paramount, Dude. What? No one says Dude these days? Yeah, well, I do! (Dude.)

 

I gotta tell ya. I'm not the biggest zucchini fan myself. I prefer my zucchini in the form of a chocolate muffin. Disguised and quiet. I also only prefer it occasionally, but these I've been eating every chance I get. I even get cravings for them. Thanks to Sharon for starting the frenzy. The whole cauliflower pizza crust wasn't such a great adaptation, but this one sure did turn out great. Don't get me wrong. The cauliflower pizza crust? AWESOME flavor and it gave me the idea to do some cauliflower fritters just like my okra fritters that taste wonderful and are gluten free (Just like this recipe) but, to say it is a 'crust' eh, not so much. LOL.

 

Anyway... I give you my not so recipe recipe for Roasted Zucchini with mozzarella and tomatoes.

 

YUM! Now, You'll have to excuse me. I have to go make some more.

 

See you soon!

 

Barbie~