Vegetable Tian

 I just realized that I had not posted the prettiest vegetable dish made from the 2012 garden. 

I made this Vegetable Tian Sept 9, 2012, when for the first and only time ever, our garden produced a green zucchini, a yellow squash, and tomatoes, all with the same diameter.

Underneath the summer squash and tomatoes are sautéed onions, garlic, and sweet red pepper (a little salt and pepper). On top, fresh thyme and rosemary drizzled with olive oil.

Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes at 350-375 degrees, remove foil, add a sprinkling of fresh grated parmesan cheese on top, and bake for 10-15 minutes more.

This tasted wonderful-so fresh! Most recipes taste great when the ingredients are picked from the backyard garden minutes before cooking, but this one is especially pretty. Its good looks didn't stop the two of us from devouring almost the whole thing at once.

Update: Aug 22, 2013.  While not quite as equally sized as last year, today's garden brought forth one yellow squash, one green zucchini, one striped zucchini, and some tomatoes that were sort of close in size.  It is in the oven now. mmm.

2 Excellent No-Oven or Stove Zucchini Recipes

Here are 2 easy zucchini recipes. These are especially good on a day like today when it was too hot to cook and basil or other fresh herbs were also abundant.

Raw Zucchini Salad

With a peeler or a mandoline, shave zucchini the long way into long thin slices or slice into very thin rounds.
Dressing: Grated Lemon Peel and Juice from 1 lemon (at least 2 T), 2 T olive oil, and about 4 T of fresh herbs.  I used basil and chives, but other herbs, such as mint, parsley, dill, would be good too.  You could also add sprinkle some soft cheese, like goat or gorgonzola on top, although I did not.  Instead I added all 5 orange cherry tomatoes that ripened today.

The other recipe is just as simple although the zucchini is cooked. I grilled it outside.

Grilled Zucchini and Yellow Squash with Basil Parmesan dressing

Cut squashes in half.   Spray or rub olive oil on both sides and sprinkle salt and pepper.  Cook on gas grill on both sides until softer but where it will still hold a shape when you cut it into 1" pieces after it is cooked and cooled.  The cooking time depends on how big your squash is.  A normal sized zucchini probably only takes 10 minutes on hot grill.  (my big one took 20 minutes). Discard seeds if numerous.  Sprinkle and mix in 1/3 cup shredded parmesan, 1/2 cup chopped basil,  2 T balsamic vinegar and 2 T olive oil.  (recipe from Bon Appetit found on Epicurous.com)