"Small bundles" of zucchini filled with a luscious cheese filled and baked off. What a great dish to get your vegetables in! Not a fan of zucchini? That's ok! Your "roll" can be eggplant, potato, beef, veal, chicken, pork or whatever your heart desires! Vegetables would need to be sliced thin while the meats would need to be pounded thin.
This can be an appetizer, a lunch, a dinner, or a "because I can" thing! With a variety of cheese, homemade marinara, this really does pull together quite well. This is another dish that does need really good mise en place.
INGREDIENTS:
Cheese Filling
16 oz Ricotta, whole milk
16 oz Mozzarella, whole milk - shredded
8 oz Provolone - shredded
8 oz Cheddar - shredded
4 oz Parmesan - grated
4 oz Romano - shredded or grated
2 TB Garlic, minced
3 TB Oregano, dried
2 TB Thyme, dried
1 TB Black pepper
Mix all of your filling ingredients together evenly. Reserve one cup of the mixture to the side.
Chunky Marinara
2 lb Roma tomatoes - reserve three for dicing
4 oz Parmesan - grated
4 oz Olive oil
3 TB Garlic cloves
3 TB Oregano
1 TB Black pepper
1.) In a high powered food processor, combine all ingredients except for three tomatoes. Process smooth.
2.) Dice your remaining three tomatoes and add to your marinara
3.) 1-2 lbs Zucchini - medium to large size
You will take a peeler or mandolin cutter and make lengthwise ribbon-style cuts
OVEN - 400°F/204°C.
On a cutting board, layer three to four ribbons of zucchini. You dont want this wider than three to four inches. Dust with kosher salt, black pepper and thyme. Once arranged, grab approximately two to three tablespoons of the cheese filling and lay this on the lower end closest to you. Begin rolling the ribbons snuggly but be careful not to break the zucchini. Repeat this until you run out of cheese filling. Keeping this no more than three to four inches wide will help keep the portions as universal as possible.
In a casserole dish, pour your marinara and spread evenly. With your involtini complete, start lining them up in the sauce-lined casserole dish. Dust off with more dried herbs here. If you have marinara left, now is the time to add it to the top of your involtini. With the reserved cheese mixture, crumble this and spread evenly on top. Add more of the shredded/grated cheeses on top if you like. A nice drizzle of olive oil on top will add such great flavor! (I used a homemade basil-infused olive oil in this photo)
Into the oven, uncovered for approximately 30-40 minutes or until nice and lightly browned on top. Serve this as-is or alongside a nice salad, bowl of soup or even some grilled beef, chicken or pork to go with this.
