Then Tony made a recipe that called for tomatoes. Since we were already shopping at Costco, we just picked up a big container of tomatoes instead of stopping at the grocery store for the two or three we would need.
This left me with zucchini, eggplant, and tomatoes that needed to get used before they expired. Time for a new recipe!
This is for a large family or potluck sized dish (easily fed nine with leftovers). Feel free to halve it for a more "normal" family size (about 6 people).
3-pounds of zucchini (roughly 6 medium store-bought, or 3/4 of our monster zuc)
3 small eggplants (roughly 1-1/2 pounds)
Enough tomatoes to equal roughly 1/2-3/4 as much space as your zucchini and eggplant ingredients take up - original recipe would have called for 2 pints, I just used the rest of what we had.
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
8 large cloves of garlic (minced)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
2 cups of grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 cup fresh basil (chopped)
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees (F). Grease a 9x13 pan (we used a stoneware pan with no grease). If cutting this recipe in half, a 9x9 will work.
- Slice up your zucchini into bite sized chunks (roughly 1/2-3/4 inches). Add to large bowl.
- Cut up your eggplant (no need to peel) into bite-sized pieces (roughly 1/4x3/4 pieces), and add them to the bowl with the zucchini chunks.
- Cut up your tomatoes. If using cherry tomatoes, in half will be sufficient. We used golf-ball-sized tomatoes and I quartered them. Add your cut tomatoes to the zucchini and eggplant chunks,
- Drizzle with olive oil, then add salt, pepper, and garlic.
- Add half of the Parmesan cheese and half of the basil. Toss to mix.
- Put your vegetables into your prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes.
- After initial cook time, cover with tinfoil and cook an additional 20 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.
- Add remaining basil and Parmesan cheese.
- Serve hot.
The original recipe is a little different than the way we did ours, but you can check it out HERE.
Would I make this dish again? Well, if I did, I would probably use a couple smaller zucchinis (to avoid the seeds in the big one), cut back on the tomatoes, and add more garlic and more cheese.