Cooking 101

Italian Summer Squash Casserole

This is one of my favorite recipes… thought I should share again, being summer and all! Super easy recipe uses fresh vegetables and herbs to create a gluten-free, nutritious side dish or main entrée for your meal! Chop and combine ingredients, bake and serve… didn’t I say easy?

Italian Summer Squash Casserole

Yield: 6 side dish servings or 4 entrées

Ingredients:

1 medium zucchini squash, sliced and quartered
1 medium yellow summer squash, sliced and quartered
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
2 – 3 garlic cloves, minced
4 – 5 fresh basil leaves, chopped (or ½ teaspoon dried)
3 stems fresh oregano, chopped (or ½ teaspoon dried)
1 – 15 ounce can (~2 cups) diced tomatoes or 4 fresh Roma tomatoes, diced
2 tablespoons corn starch
1 1/2 cups shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt & couple grinds black pepper
Garnish: Grated Parmesan cheese and fresh basil leaves
** Add ¾ pound cooked chicken or turkey Italian sausage for hearty low fat main course

Equipment needed:

Cutting board
Chef knife
Dry measuring cup
Rubber spatula
Medium casserole dish (2 quart) with cover or foil
Slotted serving spoon

Summer is here and the squash is a coming! This casserole is one of my daughter Amanda’s, favorite summer dishes. especially with Italian sausage added. When the children were growing up we always had a garden.. the garden veggies would start to come in and I needed to be creative to get everyone to eat them. This variety of colors, flavors and textures are sure to please and can be changed depending what veggies you have on hand. Eggplant also makes a great addition too! Gather the eight or nine ingredients and let's get chopping!

Preheat oven to 350 F.

When chopping the vegetables, slicing the squash a bit thicker, at least ¼ inch, will hold their shape better while cooking. Then cut each circle into four quarters to make a bite-sized piece. Chop and dice onions and garlic and combine all in your casserole dish. Easiest way to chop basil is by stacking leaves on top of each other and rolling into a small tube. Cut tube into small thin strips and then continue to chop into small pieces. For the oregano, carefully scrape leaves off stems against the grain of growth and chop into small pieces. If a bit of soft stem is used that is fine, as long as it is chopped small with the leaves. Sprinkle both herbs, salt and pepper on top of chopped vegetables and stir well with a rubber spatula to disperse into squash.

The next steps provide moisture and flavor to the squash. Combine the contents of canned tomatoes with the juice and corn starch. Pour over the squash in casserole. Too much added juice will make the casserole runny as the squash cooks, adding cornstarch will help thicken the cooking liquids. If using fresh Roma tomatoes, slice vertically into 4-5 slices and then again horizontally. Chop each strip into small chunks again. Each chunk will be about a ¼ inch cube. Stir all ingredients well to blend.

Part-skim mozzarella cheese adds a wonderful, delicate flavor without a lot of added fat. If using Italian sausage, it can be added at this point too. I usually pan fry the sausage in a separate skillet until delicately browned and drain the excess fat. Chicken and turkey sausage is usually very lean too. Sprinkle 3/4 cup of the cheese over top of casserole and mix well, as shown above. Cover casserole with remaining cheese and spread well to cover vegetables. At this point you can cover casserole with foil or casserole dish cover and refrigerate for later baking. Remember a cold casserole will take longer to bake later. Remove casserole from refrigerator about 30 minutes prior to baking to allow dish to warm a bit.

If baking right away, place covered casserole dish in preheated 350 F oven and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover casserole and continue to bake for 15 – 20 minutes or cheese is golden brown. Serve using slotted spoon to remove excess liquid.

I love fish, especially salmon or flounder fillets! The colorful combination this dish creates is amazing with fish. Tasty with sausage or served over pasta too. Almost all your food groups in one dish! Great vegetarian entree! Serve with a portion of your favorite meat or crusty bread to soak up the juices! Sprinkle with a bit of grated Parmesan… Enjoy!