Baked Zucchini “Steaks” with Clumpy Cheese
Description:
Fish sticks with a slab of zucchini
This recipe is a riff off of this New York Times recipe: Seared Zucchini With Black Pepper and Parmesan, by Colu Henry. But the zucchini I pulled from my garden was much larger than what the recipe called for. So I ended up using only one and slicing it lengthwise into four 1/4 inch thick strips. I also didn't have enough parmesan, so I used gouda. And I didn't want to fry the zuc, so I baked it. So... like I said. This is a riff off of what Henry posted.
Ingredients:
- 1 big zucchini (maybe 14 inches across or so)
- olive oil or butter for greasing
- salt (about 1 teaspoon or so)
- pepper (about 1 or 2 teaspoons)
- 4 tablespoons of butter
- 2 cloves minced garlic
- grated cheese (the recipe called for parmesan. I had gouda. It worked. I had a 1/3 of a pound, so that's what I used. I suspect cheddar would also work well.)
- fresh basil or mint
Directions:
Slice the zucchini into lengthwise slices that are about 1/4 of an inch thick. I was able to make four slices out of the zucchini I had. If you are using smaller zucchinis, you'll probably need a couple.
Grease a jelly roll pan with butter or olive oil. (You could use a cookie sheet without edges, but then you might be less liberal with the butter. And it's always better to be liberal with butter. So using something with short walls around the edges brings freedom.) Lay the zucchini slices out on the pan and put it into the oven at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. Flip the slices over about half way through. You know the zucchini is ready once you can stick a fork in and you don't even feel it going in.
While the zucchini is baking, start working on the "sauce." I put the word sauce in quote marks because as soon as it cools, it hardens. And it doesn't even blend together well unless you stir the flippen fetch out of it.
Melt the butter in a sauce pan over medium-low heat. Add the salt and pepper. (You'll note that Henry says to heat the pepper for two minutes first before adding the butter. I tried that. Don't know that it did much of anything. I clearly don't have as discerning of a palate.) Add the minced garlic and the grated cheese. Stir. A lot. Well, let it melt, then stir, then melt more, then stir more, then when you notice the butter just swirling around the cheese and never combining, then stir the heck out of it until it does.
Put the sauce on simmer until the zucchini is done. In the meantime, pull the leaves of the basil (or mint) off the stems and chop it up a wee bit.
Stick a slab of cooked zucchini on a plate, glob some of the cheese "sauce" over it here and there, and then sprinkle the chopped basil/mint on top.