Zucchini Parmesan

I always have home made marinara sauce in the freezer, which makes this prep a breeze. My last batch had a lot of mushrooms in it, which was particularly good in this.

I can't resist adding a layer of ricotta mixed with an egg to the middle layer. Adds more protein and makes this a great main course. And if I have any mozzarella around, a little will usually find its way onto the top!

My CSA has not been providing many tomatoes so I used high quality canned diced tomatoes and skipped the food mill, but I otherwise followed this recipe and it was utterly amazing. I could've eaten it all by myself! So if you're looking for a quicker version, try good canned tomatoes!

It's so good that it's on my top 10 vegetable side dishes of all time list. Make the sauce from scratch the night before and it won't seem like as much work. It's easy and the fresh tomatoes make a HUGE difference. I roast the zucchini for about 30 minutes until they are on the verge of crispy to avoid the sog factor when baking. I love this dish. I think about this dish. I crave this dish. Make this dish.

I wish that recipe writers would indicate something other than or in addition to weight. In this case, couldn't there be an indication of how many cups of chopped up and/or strained tomatoes there should be? Not everyone has a kitchen scale or room for one.

I hate zucchini but this recipe was revelatory for two reasons:

1. Roasting zucchini improves flavor and texture enormously. Now I think I could serve roasted zucchini instead of gloppy watery zucchini dishes.

2. The dish was ok hot--but divine cold! All the liquid gets absorbed and you have a sort of veggie terrine. Thanks, Martha!

Recommendations:
A layer of ricotta mixed with an egg to the middle layer. adds more protein and makes this a great main course. And if I have any mozzarella around, a little will usually find its way onto the top!
Can use canned tomatoes.

Try slicing, salting, draining the zucchini THEN roasting (to eliminate water ... or my favorite, GRILLING IT prior to assembling. Grilling will give the casserole a wonderfully rich additional layer of flavor and make a convert out of those zuke-haters too.

Made this with eggplant and zucchini and it was delicious as promised. I was short on time and skipped the peeling, seeding, and chopping of the tomatoes - nice but not necessary for a delicious home-cooked meal. In a convection oven I only needed 17 minutes 'til bubbling and ready to eat.
Thanks Martha!

After trying this recipe several times with watery results, I used ideas from these notes and it worked! I salted the zucchini and let it sit for an hour on racks on cookie sheets, rinsed and dried them,then oiled them lightly, added the pepper flakes and salt. After roasting for 30 minutes, they were drier and firmer. Adding a sprinkling of bread crumbs on top of each layer helped too. Finally, I doubled the recipe, using 3 cans of plum tomatoes. The result was 2” high, sliceable and tasty.

I just made this. If you want browned zucchini, don't use the parchment and oil the pan as well as the zucchini.

I LOVE this! I'm making it tonight (for the fifth time, I think). I use good jarred sauce and it's absolutely a wonderful dish. True, the zuke doesn't really get crisp.
Tonight it's a main rather than a side, and I sneaked in some freshly steamed spinach and a wee bit of mozzarella (trying to get a little more iron into my husband). Can't wait! I also sent this one to everyone.

Next time I do this, which will be soon, I will dry the zuc's in a slow oven for about 30 min. then roast until brown. Otherwise the rest stays the same. Great dish.

The tomato sauce turned out nicely, but it was pretty labor intensive for a dish that—while delicious!—ended up more "zucchini in sauce" than "zucchini bake." Red pepper flakes were an awesome touch, though. I'd make it again with premade sauce.

Excellent ATK has a very similar recipe,they suggest using the microwave to drive off the extra water in the Zuch...and I do think that works better than roasting...quick and no fuss... Just remember to put the Zuch on paper towels and a minute or two your ready to assemble

Absolutely delicious and a bit of change from the eggplant parm. The zucchini never quite browned even after 20 minutes - I broiled for about 5 mins to get a bit of color. But the final dish was fab and it didn't quite matter to have browned zucchini after all!