This delicious and easy side dish took less than 15 minutes to prepare and an hour or so in a 350 degree oven. It is a perfect accompaniment to grilled or roast chicken, pork chop or even a nice substantial piece of a fish. To make, select one large (though I prefer two medium sized) zucchini and cut off the ends and slice into about 1/4 inch think rounds. Pour a little olive oil into the bottom of a gratin dish or small baking dish and sprinkle a little bit of garlic, chopped herbs (basil, marjoram or thyme) onto the bottom of the pan. Arrange the zucchini slices in neat rows, slightly overlapping…
Season with some salt. Next peel several large ripe fresh tomatoes and remove some of the seeds and chop roughly. Top the zucchini with the chopped tomatoes. Make a mixture of about 1/4 cup or less of olive oil, more chopped garlic to taste, grated parmesan cheese and drizzle this over the tomatoes (actually, I did this step in between the zucchini and the tomatoes to avoid any burnt pieces of garlic on the dish’s surface. Sprinkle more grated parmesan on top and stick this in a 350 degree F oven.
Cook for about 50-60 minutes or until the edges are slightly browned. Serve hot. I ate half of this dish in lieu of a heavier lunch… I suspect this would work well with canned whole or crushed Italian tomatoes as well, but watch the cooking time, it may need to be adjusted a bit. Easy to make, delicious to eat, beautiful to look at, economical to boot… BUT, if you are NOT a fan of zucchini, don’t even think about trying this…
19 Responses
This looks delicious! You can also eat it with good crusty bread. I love zucchini, it’s one of my favorite sandwich filling and pizza topping. Thanks for this post…I’ll try it one of these days :-)
Nice dish! You could have served this as your “contorno” or side dish of your recent Italian dinner. I’ll try this tonight :)
Very simple indeed. I am a zucchini freak even if i have to look up the spelling. But i only like it grilled or roasted. There’s this aftertaste i get if i saute it that i don’t detect with grilling. I love roasting this with other veggies like eggplant, and capsicums and adding a slice of appenzeller or other strong cheese with black olive tapenade in a crusty bread. Veggie delight!
looks like a ratatouille to me :) hahaha
Not a fan of zucchini but I think I’ll substitute the zucchini with sliced potatoes…
Thanks for the idea!
must try, must try!
The hubs and I love zucchini! I’m always making cucumbers & tomatoes with rice vinegar, etc. but definitely I’ll try this one for a change! I think the kiddies will even enjoy it! Thanks for sharing the recipe! Have a good one!
The Parmesan cheese is the major player in putting all the flavors together – you have the color of the Italian flag there.
you just gave me idea what to do with our courgettes.
My parents will for sure love this dish! Often times my mom will buy zucchini for herslef, i’ve never cook it before so i don’t really know what to make of it, but not anymore, thanks to you MM!
I like this Italian version however I prefer it “Southern style” I they say it here. It’s basically just sliced tomatoes and zucchinis boiled with water and some ham hock. I like it too when you mix the green and the yellow ones, kinda have three colours in your veggies.
I meant French version. LOL. I guess I was still thinking of the herb and spinach infused pasta you had.
oooh! vegetarian dish! thanks for this one MM. I used to broil some slices of beef and zucchini in olive oil when I was cutting down on carbs. with the tomatoes and parmesan cheese, what a supberb spinoff!
Hi Marketman, what brand of olive oil do you use? and where can i get real authentic extra virgin olive oil? i tried Olitalia extra virgin olive oil but i’m still looking for the best and authentic olive oil or the best choice available in the supermarkets. Do we have Bariani in the metro?
Hi MM,
I am hating myself now for forgetting to check your site yesterday. I had zucchini and tomatoes last night and went straight to Google because I didn’t know what to do with them, and I needed to come up with a veggie dish very quickly. I ended up baking them with some mozzarella, parmesan, salt, pepper and italian seasoning for 15 minutes. It tasted good enough, but I’m sure, not as flavorful as your gratin. I liked the taste of the baked tomatoes with cheese very much. Hmm, I could be happy with only this for dinner :)
I’m going to try your recipe real soon. Thanks!
Wow, this looks great! Will try this some time. Thanks MarketMan :)
allen,perfect with some crusty bread. Jade186, yes a great sidedish, I just made this to use up some extra veggies and test a small oven that I recently got fixed… zena, I had to look up the spelling as well! suzette, a real ratatouille coming up soon… tings, make sure you have enough liquid to help steam or cook the potatoes, and add a LOT more cheese… millet, it is easy and delicious. tulipfleurs, add cheese and the kids will probably like this. Maria Clara, yup, great color scheme. shalimar, enjoy! dhayL, I hope it turns out well, otherwise, wait a few days for my ratatouille recipe which also uses zucchini. Connie, zucchini with ham hock… that is new to me but I can definitely see the appeal! zeph, I had a few vegetarian dishes lined up… I think I overdosed on four legged animal meals recently! Aridelros, we eat red and yellow peppers often, but grilled in a toaster oven or over an open flame… Also stored in olive oil. Abby, for cooking I just buy whatever olive oil looks greenest in the groceries. But I have to confess that for salads and other dishes where it matters, I have gallons and gallons of EVOO sent in from the States. I particularly like some greek olive oils that are delicious. And an Italian aunt sometimes brings us first pressed, unfiltered EVOO from Italy that is to DIE FOR. It is cloudy, and utterly reminiscent of a recently smushed olive right off the tree. Haven’t found any of that here! k, so many more meals left to try this year! Crissy, enjoy!
Marketman, is that Rachel Ray’s brand? I guess, the hunt is still on^^
Real murky, green, sweet olive oil like MM talks about is hard to come by in Manila….There was a time when Bacchus, at the Shangri-la Makati arcade carried a super brand wrapped in gold foil paper but the very thin market made it diffucult for them to continue carrying it in their inventory…actually, very good oil and real parmigiano-reggiano are the two ingredients most difficult to find in Manila….of course, along with really sweet, ripe tomatoes…
thank goodness the cheese is now readily available…Alex Lichaytoo of Bacchus, took the gamble a few years ago, and they has now successfully sustained supplying the growing market….check out their vacuum sealed wedges at S&R outlets….truly the real thing, at a very reasonable price per kilo….