Baked Sun Dried Tomato Zucchini

A beautiful, colorful zucchini casserole with just 4 ingredients that you can have on your table in under 30 minutes, start to finish!

Baked Sun Dried Tomato Zucchini is a fantastic oven-to-table casserole that requires just 4 ingredients and only 20 minutes in the oven. It’s a great summer side dish that goes well with just about anything. So, if you have a glut of zucchini on your hands (and who doesn’t this time of year) you’ll want to give Baked Sun Dried Tomato Zucchini a try.  I promise, the results will not disappoint!

Most of the zucchini dishes I’ve made in the past involve sautéing the zucchini but I always prefer baking or roasting my vegetables so that I don’t have to be tethered to the stove top. A casserole like this one, that I can prep in just a few minutes and then throw in the oven, is my kind of dish. I owe this awesome side dish to my friend Greg, an attorney by profession, but an incredible cook as well.  My husband and I savored each bite of this zucchini dish recently while vising Greg and his wife Laura at their house on Lake George in upstate New York.

The only real work is this recipe involves pureeing a jar of sun dried tomatoes in a blender or food processor until a thick, pesto-like paste forms.  After that, you simply combine this mixture with the zucchini and basil, then transfer to a casserole dish and bake.  It doesn’t get any easier than that!

The Parmesan cheese gets sprinkled on during the last few minutes of baking and provides some additional flavor and seasoning.  Colorful food often fades when cooked but not in this dish.  The tomatoes and zucchini retain most of their vivid tones even after they are baked resulting in a beautiful presentation.

It is a little known fact that zucchini is actually a fruit and not a vegetable! Yes, that’s right – botanically speaking zucchini is a type of berry called a “pepo” which is the swollen ovary of the zucchini flower. If that’s more than you wanted to know then scratch it from your memory now and just remember this – Baked Sun Dried Tomato Zucchini is easy and delicious and a great way to use up all that summer zucchini!

Baked Sun Dried Tomato Zucchini

 

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Author: QUEEN OF MY KITCHEN

Serves: 5 servings

Ingredients

• 1 – 8½ ounce jar of sun dried tomatoes (halves or julienned) packed in olive oil with garlic and herbs
• 1½ lbs. zucchini (2 medium zucchini or 1 large), cut into ½ inch cubes
• ½ cup loosely packed basil leaves, about ¼ ounce, roughly chopped, plus additional leaves for garnish
• ⅓ cup Parmesan cheese, about 1 ounce

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Place the entire jar of sun dried tomatoes (with oil) into the work bowl of a food processor and process for 1 minute or until a smooth, pesto-like paste forms.
3. Thoroughly mix with the zucchini cubes with the sun dried tomato mixture and chopped basil until well combined.
4. Dump the mixture into a 2-quart casserole dish and bake on the bottom rack of the oven for 18 minutes or until the zucchini can be easily pierced with a toothpick but still has a little bit of resistance.
5. Remove from the oven and sprinkle on the Parmesan cheese. Place back in the oven for 2 minutes or until the Parmesan cheese is fully melted.
6. Garnish with fresh basil and serve.

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