Zucchini Casserole #2

This recipe is based on our original attempt at zucchini casserole. This is our second attempt . . . .

* 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
* 3 cloves garlic, minced
* 4 large zucchini, slice & quartered
* 2 cups grated smoked Jack cheese
* salt and pepper to taste
* 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil or I tsp. dried
* 1 cup long grain wild rice

Cook the rice and set aside

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter an 9X13" baking dish.

Melt 1 Tbsp. of the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and sauté. Scrape into a small bowl. Melt the remaining butter over medium high heat in the same frying pan. Add the zucchini and cook, stirring frequently until the moisture has evaporated and the zucchini is tender. Add the wild rice and ~1 cup smoke jack cheese and mix evenly. Pour into the prepared baking dish. Bake for 20 minutes until. Add remaing cheese and bake an additional 10 minutes.

Thoughts
This was a vast improvement on the original. The texture issues were dealt with in the addition of rice and by maintaining larger zucchini pieces.

A suggestion was made for adding bacon. Doing something like this would make this less of a side-dish and more of a main course. Another possibility would be adding mushrooms and sausage (instead of bacon). I'm thinking perhaps some sweet italian sausage or some chicken sausage.

Zucchini Casserole

So we did a fairly quick and easy dinner last night. Our one experimentation was with this recipe, which I think was good but needed some work. Our notes will follow the original recipe, which we present here courtesy of Karen's Gourmet Low-carb Recipes:


* 4 Tbsp. unsalted butter
* 1/2 cup finely chopped green onion
* 1 clove garlic, minced
* 1 lb. zucchini, trimmed and sliced 1/8-inch thick
* 1/2 cup grated Jack cheese - hot pepper is good!
* 1 egg
* 1/2 cup sour cream
* 1/2 tsp. salt
* 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh basil or I tsp. dried

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter an 8 by 8-inch baking dish.

Melt 1 Tbsp. of the butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and sauté until the onion is translucent. Scrape into a large bowl. Melt the remaining butter over medium high heat in the same frying pan. Add the zucchini and cook, stirring frequently until the moisture has evaporated and the zucchini is tender. Transfer to a food processor and pulse until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and pulse to combine. Add the onions and pulse once. Pour into the prepared baking dish. Bake for 30 minutes until lightly golden.
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Our notes:

So this tasted very good, but had what we're calling a "consistency issue." Part of the problem is that we don't have a food processor and ended up using our blender, which turned the ingredients into a very light-green goop. If you don't have a food processor, I'd suggest dicing the zucchini, or just leaving it in 1/8" slices.

We had some long grain wild rice on the side, and it was discovered that it went VERY WELL with the casserole. Next time we try this we'll probably put the wild rice in with the casserole while it bakes. I'm assuming this will mean under-cooking the rice initially. Of course, doing this completely destroys the low-carb thing the original had going on, but we aren't keeping this blog for the "health conscious" individuals among us.

Perhaps a bit more salt.

We'll definitely be trying this recipe again eventually, so check back. We'll let you know how it goes.

-Caine