While I’m away on my honeymoon my dear chef of a friend Crystal has a yummy zucchini dish to share.
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Crystal here. Your guest blogger for the day! I run my own blog Paint Smudges and my good friend Tanya has agreed to let me have the run of hers while she is off on her adventure. (Not the craziest thing she’s ever let me do to her, let me tell you. Ask her about the beach in December sometime.)
Well I’m a foodie. For sure. Love food, making and eating it. Zucchini has somehow snuck into my favorite foods list recently. It has become one of the staples of my grocery shopping list. First of all- it goes with everything. Second- it soaks up flavor like a sponge. Third- it adds moisture to recipes as well as flavor. Fourth-its a vegetable starting with the letter Z. How cool is that?
I thought I’d introduce you to a recipe I invented. Zucchini Stackers! A great snack, appetizer, or even main dish if you make enough of them! The best thing is that you can substitute your own favorite ingredients and don’t have to follow my recipe to the letter.
Here’s what you need:
2 Firm Zucchini
2 Tomatoes (I used roma)
Onion (I wanted red onion but they didn’t look great at the grocery store so I used white)
Chives/Green onions
Cheese (I used asiago but mozzerella or any other kind of cheese would do great)
Garlic (At least 2 cloves)
Toothpicks or Shishkabob sticks (I broke mine in half)
1- Slice up a nice firm zucchini into thick solid slices. These need to stand up to some manipulations, so be generous.
2- Toss them with olive oil, salt and pepper. Add in your favorite spices. I use cajun spice (pretty much works in every recipe). But I could image using curry spice, lemon, or even a stir fry sauce (like the VH brand bottled kind).
3- Spread them out on a sheet, trying to get them all on one layer. It’s best if they don’t overlap too much.
4- Bake ’em at 350′ for about 25-30 minutes, or until they are soft but still sturdy. The trick is to get them when they can still be picked up without falling apart, but are somewhat translucent due to the heat. I stuck mine in the over for an extra five minutes on broil to get the lovely brown tops.
5- While all that yummy zucchini goodness is cooking, prep all the other ingredients. Slice the tomatoes and de-seed. Crush and mince the garlic and mix in with the tomatoes. Cut thin slices of cheese. Use scissors to cut up the chives finely. Get all of that stuff into individual bowls if you want to do an “assemble it yourself” type idea.
6- Once the zucchini are done, it’s time to make the masterpieces! You can see from the pics that I’ve stacked everything up like a mini sandwich and then skewered it to keep it together. My zucchini were a little saucy so I dabbed ’em with some paper towel to keep them from slipping around the plate too much. Squeezing lemon on top is another idea. If the cheese doesn’t melt to your liking, you can slide a tray of the assembled stackers into the oven for a minute to melt it.
As I said, this is a very open recipe, and you could easily substitute other foods into the stackers. Spicy sausage slices, sauteed peppers, and mushrooms are just a few ideas.
These serve best hot, but you could serve them cold if you wish. I’m not sure how the cooked zucchini would do cold, and might end up less than appetizing. Don’t store them assembled overnight, as the zucchini will wilt and slide around on the skewer. Instead keep the ingredients separate and assemble fresh.
Well, that’s all I’ve got for now. Thanks again to Tanya for letting me run amuck. I will be heading back to my blog over at http://crystalsmithfineart.blogspot.ca/, and you can always join me there.
Enjoy!
Crystal
