I was wishing that I would have thought of it sooner so I could have bought fresh cheese and vegetables from all of the farmers markets I went to last week, but I will just have to remember that for next time!
I tried to chop the zucchini as small as possible, since I have never cooked it for John.
Usually I use my chopper for the tomatoes since they are slippery and hard to cut. I found today that using the bread knife is actually easier.
Mise en place makes me so happy. I actually measured this time, as I usually just toss stuff in.
Sauteeing zucchini.
I liked that this recipe didn't call for sauce, just italian spices and chopped tomatoes. This made it taste really fresh.
One of the last parts was a mixture of eggs and ricotta cheese. This thickened up the veggies and made the dish almost a casserole.
I like to pretend I am a tv chef by using a ramekin for the spices. As a side note, the recipe called for fresh basil, which I didn't have. I had to eyeball how much dried basil to use, and I think I might have used too much.
Adding everything in, before baking. The cheese started to melt, and the noodles really sucked up the tomato sauce.
Adding more cheese to the top, before baking it.
After baking.
The verdict: He liked it! I had never cooked with zucchini before, and since I love cooking with it so much, I am glad that for his first time it was covered with cheese. :) He said that he could have done with more noodles and less vegetables, so I think I will play with the ratio next time. I also thought it was really good, and I am looking forward to trying it for left over tomorrow!
PS Just in case any of you think "Wow, she just got back from vacation and she cooked this really fancy meal! I just don't know how she does it," don't. The 20 minutes that I spent at Fresh and Easy gathering ingredients and the 40 minutes it took to prep and cook were literally ALL I did today. Literally. I have been asleep more hours than I have been awake on this day, and have spent more time sitting and reading than standing or doing anything productive.
4 comments:
I made that a while ago and it didn't seem like enough ziti to me. 4oz was only like 5 noodles in my measuring cup. that doesn't even seem worth the trouble of boiling them!
I thought the same thing! I might use penne next time, since it's smaller and I can get it in whole wheat. Now I have a giant bag full of rigatoni that's almost full since I only used like 8 noodles! Guess I will be looking up recipes! (Of course, john would be happy with just noodles and cheese-- im the one who makes it more complicated!)
I even emailed cooking light to check if it was correct. they checked with the test kitchen and 4oz is right.
seems odd to me.
btw, this is Kate, not sure why my screen name won't pop up.
I think the lack of noodles was what made it qualify as "light." It didn't mind it so much, but that might be because I put a lot of extra cheese which bound it all together.
Working at the test kitchen for cooking light would be the funnest thing ever, btw!
I figured it was you. Mom's comments come up as "me" sometimes too, but I didn't think she would be cooking with squash...
Post a Comment