With spring just around the corner, I?ve been keen to start working a wider variety of vegetables into our diet. We?ve been rocking the corn and carrots pretty hard lately, so a slight change was more than welcome. I saw a few nice looking zucchini at the Central Market the other day, so I picked them up and went in search of recipe for them. It was my food boyfriend Tyler Florence who hooked me up this time. Let?s be honest. I love me some Tyler. He?s not the most eloquent man (favorite words include I?ma and stuff), but damn, can he make a good meatloaf. I used his recipe for roasted squash with parmesan and thyme out of his earlier cookbook, Real Kitchen. I sliced the zucchini fairly thick on the bias, and tossed them with a handful of thyme leaves, a little olive oil, parmesan, panko breadcrumbs (Japanese breadcrumbs, NOT a region in another country, as a local Adelaide food writer mistakenly published), and chopped garlic, my own twist to the recipe. I put it into an oven safe dish, drizzle a fair amount of melted butter on top and baked for around 40 minutes at 180 C (350 F) until the breadcrumbs were browned and it looked like this: buttery, garlicky goodness in zucchini form.
It?s a simple dish?I took a page out of Paula Deen?s book– that the entire stick of butter I used might have made it just a teensy bit unhealthy. But it was tasty and let?s be honest, I?m just happy to have a bit more variety in my vegetable social life. And it?s almost artichoke season here!!!! Can I get a holler for that? ~LTG
