Zucchini parmesan 

The zucchini parmigiana is a delicious recipe that involves the combination of zucchini, cheese, tomato and basil, it is clearly a variant of the most famous eggplant parmigiana, a great classic of Neapolitan cuisine. Zucchini parmigiana is a dish much appreciated for its goodness and versatility. It can be served as an appetizer, side dish or even as a main course. It is an ideal recipe for vegetarians or for those who want to reduce the use of meat in their diet. The use of zucchini instead of eggplant, makes this dish a little more digestible, therefore more suitable for frequent consumption during the hot season. Zucchini parmigiana is good both hot freshly baked and cold at room temperature.

Ingredients for the base of zucchini

ZUCCHINI 500 Gr

GRATED PARMIGIANO REGGIANO - 50 Gr

MOZZARELLA 250 Gr

FLOUR 

PEANUT OIL to taste

Ingredients for tomato sauce

TOMATO PUREE 500 Gr

SMALL ONION - 1

EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL 

BASIL LEAVES to taste

SALT to taste

Preparation

Start cooking the zucchini parmigiana starting from the tomato sauce: wash and peel a small onion, cut it with the knife into small pieces of the size you prefer. Put the extra virgin olive oil in a pot and turn on the stove flame, add the onion and let it heat up, when it is just soft, add the tomato pulp and season with salt. Cook for about 15 minutes, and towards the end of cooking add a few chopped basil leaves. Wash and trim the zucchini at the ends. With a knife or if you prefer with a mandolin cut them into slices, lengthwise, 5 mm thick. Pass the zucchini slices in the flour that you have already placed in a suitable container. Put the peanut oil in a pan and let it heat when it is hot, dip the floured zucchini in hot oil, let them cook for a few minutes until they are golden brown. When they are ready, remove them from the pan with a perforated spoon and put them on sheets of absorbent paper so that they lose excess oil. In a baking dish suitable for baking, put a layer of tomato sauce, arrange the fried zucchini slices, side by side, spread more tomato sauce on the slices. Slice the mozzarella and add them to the tomato sauce. Continue with another layer of zucchini slices, and go on layer by layer, until you finish the ingredients. Finish with a layer of tomato sauce and complete with a generous sprinkling of grated Parmesan. Turn on the oven, static at 200 C degrees, when it is at temperature bake the baking dish with the zucchini parmigiana and cook for about 25 minutes. Once it is cooked, take the zucchini parmigiana out of the oven and let it rest for a few minutes before serving. 

Note

To make the parmigiana even tastier, you can add the béchamel sauce between one layer and another. If you want to avoid frying, you can cook the floured zucchini in a static oven at 200 degrees for about 15 minutes. Instead of tomato sauce, you can use a meat sauce. You can prepare Parmigiana with other vegetables such as eggplant, peppers, potatoes or artichokes.

Preservation

Zucchini parmigiana keeps in the refrigerator for 2 days, if you used all fresh ingredients, you can freeze it already divided into portions.