zucchini lovin'

Often the reason you will find dirty knives in my sink or traces of chopped vegetables on my cutting board is because at some point in time during the day I wandered into my kitchen with the simple desire to cook new food.   You see, as a single person, the purpose of my kitchen is much different than the purpose of most other peoples kitchens.  I have no reason to stock my refrigerator full of basic ingredients that will whip together multiple dinners in multiple ways for multiple people.  Therefore, I get to shop and cook a little more creatively than most.  Because I like the challenge of expanding my skills and the adventure of eating something new, I almost exclusively cook new recipes.  While this is a risky policy in the arena of entertaining others, it is the motivation I need to cook for myself instead of purchasing my food already prepared.    Sometimes I turn out less than delicious food, such as the roasted garlic and rosemary chicken I slow-cooked in my crockpot last week.  No thanks!  Other times, I make food that is good enough to eat once but not spectacular enough to make again.   Bracketed by an occasional failure, this unofficial test kitchen of mine has seen some pretty great food come to be.   Tonight, I discovered that whisking ribbons of basil, chunks of tomatoes, handfuls of shredded zucchini, day old bread, ricotta cheese and eggs together makes one mean breakfast bake.   Seriously, so good!

Zucchini Breakfast Casserole 

6-8 eggs 

1 cup ricotta cheese 

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese  

1/4 teaspoon Tabasco sauce or other hot chili sauce 

1 teaspoon salt 

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper 

3 cups grated zucchini 

1 1/2 cups tomatoes

1/2 cup sliced fresh basil 

4 cups day-old bread 

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees,  In a large bowl beat the eggs.  Add the ricotta cheese and beat until smooth.  Mix in the grated Parmesan cheese, Tabasco, salt and pepper.  

2. Prepare the vegetables and bread.  Add the zucchini, tomatoes, and basil to the egg mixture.  Mix the bread cubes into the egg mixture.  

3. Coat the bottom of a 9x13 pan with olive oil.  Pour the egg and vegetable mixture into the baking pan and even it out.  Place in the middle rack of the oven.   Bake for 30 minutes at 350.  The casserole should puff up and brown lightly.  If it hasn't after 30 minutes, increase the heat to 425 and cook for 5-10 minutes longer. 

My only regret is that I didn't dig this out of my recipe line-up soon enough to feed to my family at my parents cabin.   This this not scream Saturday morning breakfast?  Oh well, I guess there is always next year!