Sunday 20 January 2008

Grow your Own: Nana's Zucchini Slice



Something new: I have decided to enter a dish into Grow Your Own, run by Andrea of Andrea's Recipes. I stumbled (happily) upon on this event on the Is my Blog Burning site. For those of you unfamiliar with blogging events (as I was, until rather recently), foodie bloggers from all over the globe publish recipes and then submit or link them to a host site, whose author provides a round up of all entries after the event has closed. Cool, huh? I may never have to buy a cookbook again (although to be honest, that is a rather unlikely consequence of this discovery).

As my regular readers know, we are currently experiencing what can only be described as a zucchini glut, and I have been working feverishly to concoct delicious recipes to reduce the abundant supply. This one is actually an old family favourite; my Nan passed it on to me several years ago, and it continues to grace our table with considerable regularity. I've fiddled with the original a bit, I hope to its benefit.

Ingredients:
400g grated zucchini (excess juice squeezed out) *
1 cup of grated cheddar
4 eggs
1 cup SR flour
just under 1/2 cup olive oil
100g (couple of rashers) of good, smokey bacon, diced
1 onion, diced
seasonal fresh or dried herbs - couple of teaspoons, or to taste
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

To serve:
Tomato Passata (with sautéed garlic and mushrooms - mmm)
shaved parmesan

Directions:
Preheat oven to 190˚c. Grease a large ovenproof dish with olive oil.

Fry off the onion and the bacon until the onion is soft and the bacon a little crispy. Stir through herbs. I like to use dried oregano, but fresh basil works very well. Allow to cool.

Whisk eggs in a large bowl, add flour and oil and stir vigorously (the mix should resemble a thick cake batter). Fold through cheese, onion mixture, grated zucchini and season to taste.

Pour into the dish and place in the oven for approximately 45 minutes, or until the top is golden and cake is cooked through. I prefer to use a high sided casserole or cake tin, but If you are using a shallow dish, reduce the cooking time.

Allow to cool slightly before serving with tomato passata and shaved parmesan.

* This is also delicious with a little bit of grated pumpkin (say, half a cup), which can be cooked off slightly with the onion and bacon.

Serves 4.


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5 comments:

Andrea said...

Zucchini, cheese, bacon...some of my favorite foods! This sounds so good and homey. Thanks so much for sharing the recipe and sending it to Grow Your Own!

~Andrea

Anonymous said...

I soooo want to eat this....:)
I've eaten something very similar in the past it was an italian dish my ex boyfriends, nonna use to make :{. Do you publish books as well? I know the abc are looking for recipes and stories about recipies. you should so submit this one I think they will publish it and your story... www.abc.net.au/backyard/homecooked

Anna said...

Thanks for your kind words (and the ABC tip), anonymous reader :-) I can totally relate to the ex-boyfriend's Nonna issue; I had one who made the most amazingly crispy fried chicken you have ever tasted (and let's not even discuss her baked ricotta-stuffed pancakes). Her cooking probably kept that relationship going for at least a year past its expiry date. Maybe that would be a good title for a book (or blog): Recipes from my Ex-boyfriend's Nan! In answer to your question - no I don't publish books - but was rather chuffed by the suggestion.

I hope the recipe lives up to your expectations... let me know what you think :-)

Nina Timm said...

We are currently on a meat free diet. We do eat cheese and eggs, but I think we just had to much meat over the holidays and none of us can face it right now. Your zucchini recipe will be a good main course - I think we will have it tonight.

Thanks

Nina

Anonymous said...

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