What to do with zucchini - part 4

The Zucchini Series has generated a lot of comments, and I don't want to leave out one more recipe, but I need to copy it from the book to make sure I get it right!

This is good for the ones that got away from you and are bigger than you might usually like.

Eggplant (Zucchini) Parmesan (from Recipes from the Moon by Gary Beardsworth)

serves 6

2 cups all purpose flour
5 eggs, beaten with 1 T water
2 cups dried whole wheat bread crumbs
1/4 cup sesame seeds
2 T basil
1 T oregano
2 t black pepper
2 large or 4 small eggplants (zucchini), cut into 1/4 inch slices
3 cups (12 oz) grated mozzarella cheese
16 ounces of ricotta cheese
1/2 cup (2oz) grated Parmesan cheese
Marinara Sauce

Preheat the oven to 350F
Place the flour, beaten eggs, and bread crumbs mixed with sesame seeds, basil, oregano, and pepper in separate bowls (pie plates work well for this)
Dip each slice of eggplant (zucchini) in the flour then the eggs and then the bread crumb mixture.
Place the slices on a lightly oiled baking sheet and bake until crisp on the outside and tender in the middle about 10 to 15 minutes.** Leave the oven on.

Lightly oil a 9x13 baking dish. Place a layer of baked eggplant (zucchini) slices in the pan, fitting them close together. Spread half of the marinara sauce, then ricotta then half the mozzarella and half the parmesan. Repeat the layers. Cover the pan with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove cover and bake for 15 more minutes. Let it sit for 5 minutes before serving.

** I tend to stop at the asterisks because I am not too fond of the lasagna-like final result of the actual recipe. I feel like it wrecks the crispiness of the cutlets to then bury them in sauce, and the leftovers were pretty mushy. Instead, I serve the eggplant (zucchini) cutlets to the side of cooked pasta with red sauce. If you want to get really fancy, melt some mozzarella cheese on the cutlets under the broiler first.

You can also freeze the baked cutlets (with no melted cheese on them) for later use. Put them on a tray or waxed paper or Silpat in the freezer in a single layer so that they don't stick together. Then once frozen, transfer to a zip-top bag and label. It's great to pull some out in January, heat them up in the oven to re-crisp and then serve on a toasted roll with lots of red sauce and cheese as a eggplant (zucchini) parmesan sub! If this is your plan, then you might want to cut the slices long-ways instead of cross-ways so that they fit better on sub rolls.

If you have a really big zuke and lots of time, use a small cookie cutter to make them into fun shapes. My kid eats pretty much anything, but if yours is more picky - maybe dinosaur-shaped veggie cutlets would be more appealing? Or spelling out his name in veggie cutlets?

I think that my friend Juliet gave me this book a while ago. This is my favorite recipe from it, but there are a couple others that I might share later.

Make your own bread crumbs - save the heels of bread. Cut into cubes (crouton sized) and dry in your oven or dehydrator. Then process the dry cubes in the blender, food processor, or by using a rolling pin on a mound of cubes trapped between layers of waxed paper. Bread crumbs! If they are nice and dry, croutons or crumbs will last for quite a while in a jar on the shelf.

If you want flavored croutons, take some of the ones you made and toss them in some heated olive oil or melted butter in a skillet and then toss in some dried spices. Yummy and no MSG.