Parmesan Crusted Zucchini Dippers

Closet Cooking yet again makes an appearance on my dinner table. I love that guy, I really do. He’s into everything I am: eating seasonally with global recipes. Here is one of his latest, faithfully reproduced by yours truly: Parmesan Crusted Baked Zucchini Sticks with Marinara Sauce. For the sauce, I did my new favorite recipe of throwing a bunch of chopped tomatoes, ½ onion, a handful of baby carrots chopped, fresh basil, oregano and parsley, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and wine into a casserole dish. Put that in the oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes, then blend in a food processor (or immersion blender – my new best friend) and you have delicious sauce. OH, don’t forget to add 1 can tomato paste, parmesan and ½ tsp of sugar. Those are important.

Incidentally, I didn’t put all of the parmesan bread crumb mix into the bowl. I put in a little, used it up, and put in a little more when I needed it. Now I have a reserve of uncontaminated parmesan breadcrumbs in a ziplock baggie that I can dredge fish in, or chicken, or pork, or anything else that would taste good baked in breadcrumbs (and really, what doesn’t taste good baked in bread crumbs?).
But onto the recipe, which makes use of late summer’s finest. --AnglophileLV


Parmesan Crusted Baked Zucchini Sticks with Marinara Sauce
(makes 4 appetizer sized servings)

Ingredients:1/2 cup bread crumbs (I used Italian style)
1/2 cup parmigiano reggiano (grated)
1 teaspoon oregano
1 pound zucchini/courgettes (sliced into sticks and pat dry)
salt and pepper to taste
1-2 eggs (lightly beaten)

Directions:
1. Mix the bread crumbs, parmigiano reggiano and oregano in a bowl.
2. Season the zucchini with salt and pepper.
3. Dip the zucchini in the egg and then dredge in the bread crumb mixture.
4. Place the zucchini on a baking sheet in a single layer with the skin side down.
5. Bake in a preheated 425F oven until golden brown, about 25 minutes.

Roasted Tomato Sauce

This tomato sauce recipe is a little different - you chop all the vegetables and roast them in the oven. The bacon and balsamic vinegar give it a more round and complex flavor, which is why I left out the tomato paste when I made it. I think next time I'll try adding a half can of tomato paste for texture and color. But, as is, this is really good and very easy. There's nothing like home-made tomato sauce in summer. The basic recipe is from Closet Cooking, my second favorite food blog, but I added a lot more tomatoes, parmesan and used more fresh herbs. --AnglophileLV

Roasted Tomato Sauce - adapted from Closet Cooking

Ingredients:
8 medium tomatoes quartered
1/2 small onion chopped
3 cloves garlic coarsely chopped
2 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
A dash of whatever red wine you’re drinking with the meal
5 sprigs fresh oregano (a small handful)
a small handful of fresh basil
3 pieces bacon chopped (optional)
salt and pepper to taste
fresh parsley (chopped)
1/2 C fresh grated parmesan

Directions:
1. Place the tomatoes, onion, garlic, oil, balsamic vinegar, oregano, basil, bacon, salt and pepper in a bowl and toss to coat.
2. Place the mixture in a baking dish and bake in a preheated 350F oven for about 45 minutes.
3. Place the mixture in a food processor.
4. Use the food processor or immersion blender to chop the sauce to the consistency that you desire.
5. Toss with the fresh parsley, parmesan and pasta to serve.

7 Layer Bean Dip

Shout-out to Closet Cooking for this addictive and delicious recipe. LV made it for our latest BBQ/Picnic and not one of us (including LV) could stop shoveling it into our mouths. I decided to make it 2 days later for my brother. Naturally, I ate 1/2 of it. SO SO GOOD. I actually did mine based on LV's description and added a couple more ingredients, and her's was a carbon copy of the one at Closet Cooking.

This should serve 4, but it ended up serving 2 adults one of whom had no self-control.

Ingredients

Refried beans (I used the "vegetarian" "no lard" version) - 1 can
Green chillies- 2-4 or 1/2 Serrano finely chopped or jalapenos.
Black olives - sliced, about 15
Avocados - 1, coarsely chopped
Roma tomatoes (since it's summer, use cherry or grape tomatoes instead, so much better)- 2 finely chopped
Cheddar Cheese - to cover the top, about 1/2 cup-1 cup
Fresh Cilantro - finely chopped for garnish
Scallions - finely chopped 1 bunch
Cumin Powder - 1 tspn
Cayenne/Chilli powder - 1 tspn
Pickled Jalapenos (optional)
salt to taste

Method

1. Heat up the refried beans and add water until dippable consistency is reached. To this add the cumin and cayenne powder. Also add the green chillies to the hot beans and mix everything.

2. Pour the beany mix into serving dish. Top it off with cheddar cheese. Microwave this for about 30seconds for cheese to melt.

3. Next up are the avocados, follow this up with the tomatoes, jalapenos, black olives, cilantro and scallions.

4. Serve warm. Add sour cream to make this a 9 layered bean dip. ;)

Serve with tortilla chips.

Tomato Sauce with Atomic Italian Meatballs

I don't eat beef anymore and I avoid Lasagnas, meat sauce, and meatballs in Italian restaurants. But I used to eat beef a long, long time ago and am familiar with the tastes of the above dishes. oh my, so good. Using ground turkey or chicken makes a great substitute in my opinion and I use it to recreate these yummy dishes. I recently bought ground chicken and after making my nuclear sheek kababs, I still had some meat left over. I decided to try out Italian meatballs!
Most meatball recipes I looked up used eggs to bind the meat or perhaps to keep 'em moist. Either way, I'm not a fan of cooking with eggs so my recipe is a little different. I have paired this post with a tomato sauce recipe from LV.

sidenote: If you haven't caught on by now: Atomic implies insane amounts of garlic and nuclear implies insane amounts of garlic AND other spices. I should patent this usage.


Atomic Italian Meatballs: Makes about 10 medium sized meatballs (Approximated the amounts here. since it was my first time making it, I wasn't paying attention to the amounts)

1/2 lb of Ground chicken
1/4-1/2 cup of bread crumbs ( I make my own bread crumbs: normal wheat toasted, ground with italian spices and you got it, garlic powder)
italian seasoning (oregano, basil, thyme, whatever you have on hand) - 1tspn or so
fresh garlic - minced about 5-10 cloves (yea, i was serious about the "atomic" bit)
Garlic + Herb powder - 1/2 tspn (definitely optional at this point ;) )
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil to pan fry the meat balls and about 1-2 tspn to mix in with the meat
Parmesean cheese - 1/4-3/4 cup.

1. Basically, you mix everything thoroughly including the 1-2tspn of olive oil. I let this sit for about 10-15 minutes. Roll into balls of desired size; i kept them medium because I wasn't sure how long they take to cook and i wanted them thoroughly cooked before I added them to my sauce.

2. In a non-stick shallow pan add olive oil to coat bottom and let it heat up on medium heat. Add the meatballs and slow cook them on medium-low. Cover them to ensure they remain moist.

3. After about 10 minutes (give or take) they should be done. I would recommend doing just one test meatball first to taste and make sure that the seasoning is fine.

4. drop into tomato sauce (I used store bought in the above picture) and let it simmer for about 5 minutes. Serve over a bed of cooked pasta.


Here is a recipe for homemade tomato sauce from LV:

8 tomatoes (I leave the skin on, but you can remove it too)
1/4C olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 chopped carrot
A handful each: fresh parsley, fresh basil, and fresh oregano--chopped
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4th tsp ground red chilli peppers
1/2 tsp cumin
1 Bay leaf
3 Tb Red wine
1/2 Tb corn starch
1 can tomato paste (I've tried leaving this out, but trust me, put it in)
***Optional: lemon zest, extra carrots, zuchinni, parmesan
****Tip: if you have parmesan rinds, add them in while the sauce is
cooking and scoop them out at the end for extra flavor.

Directions:
1. Marinate the Chef
2. Saute garlic, onion, carrot, bellpepper and bay leaf in the olive
oil in a very large pot.
3. Add all the other ingredients except for the corn starch and tomato paste.
4. Simmer for 2 hours.
5. Mix wine with corn starch and stir into simmering sauce. Add tomato
paste until the sauce looks and tastes right to you.

Tuscany Lamb Chop Skillet (from the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook)

Summer makes me crave Italian food. Warm breezes, tan skin, blue skies and clay pots bursting with basil—it’s not hard to imagine that I’m in Tuscany right now. This recipe has incredible flavor, even though it uses canned beans and canned tomatoes that any genuine Italian woman would shun. Oh well, I’m English and we can’t cook worth beans. Cannellini beans, that is… --AnglophileLV

Ingredients:
Lamb Chops
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 sprigs fresh rosemary, chopped or torn into small pieces
Olive oil
1 can Italian Stewed Tomatoes
1 can cannellini beans

1. Coat lamb chops with the chopped rosemary and cook in a skillet with the olive oil and garlic until done. When done, put on a plate and cover to keep warm.
2. Drain the cannellini and add to the skillet with the whole undrained can of Italian stewed tomatoes. Add a little more rosemary and heat thoroughly.
3. Plate the tomato and bean mix and top with lamb chops. Garnish with fresh rosemary.