Here’s a “you gotta try this” recipe! Great for vegans and friends, all of the ingredients are something you would find in a regular grocery store. Caramelized onions, roasted tomatoes and zucchini, and a crispy panko bread crumb top…you will be fighting for seconds…at least we did in our house! Our 18 month old even got in on the action. He declared himself “all done” and started to hand me his half eaten bowl and then laughed and said “trick” as he quickly grabbed back his bowl! Where does he learn this stuff?
My little goofball….but I swear by these onion goggles…they make such a difference!
Tomato Crisp—lots of easy steps here, but I would suggest reading through all of them before beginning to make sure you get your timing right!
Filling:
a random assortment of tomatoes and zucchinis
~1 pound of tomatoes, grape or cherry size work well, but I used a mix of roma and whatever I found ripe in the garden…the end result is delicious, but a uniform size makes a prettier presentation
1-2 small zucchinis
1 large onion
1 T olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp salt
pepper to season
2 T flour
Side note: these spice collections from TSP Spices make great gifts…I’ve received sets from my sister in law and my aunt. They contain pre-measured single use packets of different organic spices and herbs.
In a large pan, heat olive oil over medium high heat. Cut onion in half. Then slice each half in half vertically, up to the root, but without slicing all the way through. Now slice into thin pieces. Add all onion into the olive oil and begin to brown and caramelize slowly; this takes about 20 minutes. While onions are cooking, preheat oven to 400 and prepare the bread crumb topping, below.
Cut tomatoes into 1 inch pieces. If you use grape or cherry tomatoes just cut them in half. Cut zucchini to same size. Add garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper to onions and stir to combine. Add flour and stir to coat all onions, let cook for a minute to cook out raw flavor. Add tomatoes and zucchini and mix well. Cook over medium low heat for 5 minutes. Transfer all contents of pan into a baking dish. Spread bread crumb topping evenly over vegetables. Place in oven and cook for 20 – 30 minutes, or until zucchini is tender, watching carefully so the bread crumbs don’t burn. Cover with foil once crumbs brown if zucchini still needs time.
crispy and golden brown!
Panko Bread Crumb Topping:
1 tsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1 c panko bread crumbs (I like Kikkoman)
1-2 T fresh parsley, finely chopped
zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp salt
pepper to taste
Heat olive oil over medium low heat in small pan. Add garlic and cook, but do not burn! Add panko bread crumbs and stir thoroughly. Add parsley, lemon zest, salt and pepper and stir well, browning the bread crumbs slightly. Remove from heat and follow directions above.
Pasta:
I use a glass to keep the pasta together for easy measuring
Put a pot of water on for your pasta sometime during the vegetable prep, depending on how long it takes your stove to bring water to boil. I weigh my pasta because left to my own devices I would probably eat 4 servings on my own! Once pasta is cooked, pour into strainer. Put 1 tsp olive oil in the pasta pan with 1 clove minced garlic and cook for just a minute. Add pasta back in to pot and toss well to coat lightly.
Serving:
So delicious!
Put pasta into each dish and spoon Tomato Crisp over top. Alternately, serve family style at the table. David doesn’t like “tamoes” – tomatoes, but he loves pasta sauce. I took a scoop of the Tomato Crisp and ran my immersion blender through it to make a quick sauce and then coated his pasta with it and he loved it! Enjoy!
We planned on saving leftovers for the next day but it didn’t really work out that way!
