18 August 2016



It's time for this month's Improv Challenge, hosted by Nichole of Cookaholic Wife

This month's ingredients were garlic and rosemary.  So many possibilities!  I am not a rosemary fan at all; it just tastes too much like pine needles to me.  But I still wanted to participate this month, so I made something with rosemary anyway.

I had recently seen a yummy looking zucchini recipe that I wanted to try.  According to Elle shared some zucchini that was baked with parmesan and herbs on top.  The photos are beautiful (unlike mine, lol! Having some camera issues at the moment), and I just couldn't wait to try it.  This challenge was the perfect opportunity.

Here is my version.

Parmesan Herb Zucchini

Ingredients:
2 medium zucchini, cut into ¼” slices
Olive oil
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan
½ tsp garlic powder
1-2 tsp rosemary, chopped

Preheat oven to 350°.

Place zucchini slices on a rimmed baking sheet (I use stoneware).  Brush both sides lightly with olive oil (I actually used an olive oil spray).

In a small bowl, gently mix together the parmesan, garlic powder, and rosemary.  Put about 1 tsp of this mixture on top of each zucchini slice.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes, then place under the broiler for a few minutes until the cheese begins to brown on top.  Remove and serve warm.

Makes 4 servings.

So since I'm not a huge rosemary fan, what I did was put rosemary on just a few of them, and for the others I used one of my favorite herb blends from Penzeys, Sunny Paris.  This would work well with any herb, fresh or dried.  I used garlic powder because I was out of fresh garlic, but fresh would be fine as long as it was very finely minced.  The garlic powder worked well for me; it was just the right amount of garlicky-ness I thought.

I was very pleased with this zucchini.  It was a nice change from simply sauteeing it or throwing it on the grill.  Zucchini has too much water in it to ever get really "crispy", but these did brown beautifully on the bottoms.  I had some that were about 1/2" thick and some that were 1/4" because I couldn't decide what would work better.  My zucchini were too big to slice in half lengthwise like According to Elle did.  So I thought slices were the way to go.  I ended up liking the 1/4" slices better.  They browned more on the bottoms and they edges got more browned and delish.

My husband and I both loved this zucchini.  Unfortunately, my kids aren't big zucchini fans, so they opted for baby carrots instead.  Their loss!  I can't wait to make this again.

Be sure to check out all the other great garlic and rosemary recipes below and come back next month to see what I make with sausage and mustard.  I already know what it is and I can't wait!