Our First Meal with Our Homegrown Zucchinis

I've been promising Matt for years that I would make him zucchini parm, so when our plants finally made two big zucchinis this week, it was the perfect opportunity. 

Before getting started, I made a pot of homemade tomato sauce. If you've never tried making your own tomato sauce, I highly recommend you try it. It's easy, cheap, and always turns out better than store-bought sauce. I make it a little differently each time, but the basic recipe is this: Saute some onions in olive oil until soft and a little golden, then put a few chopped tomatoes and garlic and your choice of spices (usually basil, sage, thyme, and a little salt and pepper). If it's not tomato season, a can of peeled whole tomatoes works great too. Let that simmer until the tomatoes are soft. You can also add a little bit of red wine. And a pinch of sugar (sometimes I put OJ or some other fruit juice). And that's it. It's very easy, it's very delicious.  

Now back to making the zucchini parm. First you'll need breadcrumbs, also a very easy thing to make yourself: Put a few slices of bread in the oven at 160C (about 300F) for 10-15 minutes, until the bread is completely dried out but not browned. Let cool. Crumble bread. That's it. Add some spices if you want. Really easy. Doesn't it make you mad how much you spend on store-bought breadcrumbs now? Don't do it, make your own. 

Next step, slice and bread the zucchini. Everyone has their own method of doing this, but this is my favorite: First dip in flour, then soak in egg for a few seconds, then dip in breadcrumbs. The reason for dipping in flour first is that it gives the egg something to stick to, and the better the egg coverage, the better the breadcrumb coverage. Next, we fry the zucchini. 

Fry on each side until browned. Use a vegetable oil. Then let cool, the best place for that is a rack. I like to cut the zucchinis into little circles so that I can stack them (the way my grandmother made zucchini parm) instead of layering them like a casserole. This is my stacking method: cover bottom of pan with a thin layer of sauce. Place zucchini circles on bottom of pan, put a small slice of mozzarella on each slice of zucchini, then a spoonful of tomato sauce. Repeat until you've stacked them to the top of the pan (or until you run out of zucchini). Put some Mozzarella and sauce on top of each stack, then bake at 210C (about 400F) until the mozzarella starts to brown (about 30 minutes). 

I can't describe to you how delicious this is, you just have to try it.

Finally, serve to a sweetie of your choice.