Main Course Recipes – FoodWatcher

Summer Toast

Good bread slathered with a veggie-packed garlic yogurt and finished with a few high impact toppings. If you keep the yogurt on hand, it’s an excellent five minute lunch.

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I call this summer toast. It’s the result of a couple things in my life colliding into a really good lunch option. Here’s what we’re looking at. Slices of homemade sourdough bread rubbed with olive oil are broiled until golden and toasted. Each slice is smeared with Greek yogurt that has been absolutely loaded with grated zucchini and carrots, toasted walnuts, smashed garlic, and herbs. Tons of good stuff. The finishing touch comes from a scan of my late-summer refrigerator which always has roasted cherry tomatoes, olives, and basil. It’s the perfect easy lunch.
toasted sourdough topped with Greek yogurt and shredded vegetables

The Inspiration: Summer Toast

There have been some amazing cookbook releases this year and I’ve been cooking regularly from a short stack of them. One of my absolute favorites has been Sebze: Vegetarian Recipes from My Turkish Kitchen by Ozlem Warren. I checked it out from the library, then immediately bought my own copy. There’s a yogurt-based meze she shares on page 102, where she loads yogurt with sautéed vegetables, herbs and nuts. It is fantastic, no notes. But as the temperature kept climbing here in LA, I started doing a version of it with raw, shredded zucchini and carrots (or whatever else I need to use up).
grated carrots and zucchini mixed with greek yogurt to make a toast topping
I make it on the weekend, and use it smeared on, in, and under all sorts of things all week. It dovetails with my baking a couple loaves of sourdough each week (even when it’s hot omg) for the A+ combo you see here. For the sourdough geeks, the bread pictured is 20% whole wheat flour, 30% high-extraction flour, 50% bread flour with wild rice, toasted walnuts, and lots of lemon zest folded in.
homemade sourdough bread, sliced and toasted on a baking sheet

Pro-tip

The one piece of advice I have here is to use a box grater, or something similar. Skip the microplanes for grating the zucchini and carrots. Old school for the win here because you end up with hearty, well defined flecks of vegetables. I have a flat, wooden Japanese grater that is a dream to use, so keep your eyes peeled for one of those.
toasted sourdough topped with Greek yogurt and shredded vegetables, olives and roasted tomatoes

An Alternative to Avocado Toast

As much as I love avocado toast, this is a nice, substantial alternative. For the vegans out there, use a dairy-free yogurt. Or, for a brunch, you could set up a toast bar with this and avocado, and a few other spreads and compound butters.

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Rice Pilaf

An all-star, homemade rice pilaf focused on building flavor throughout the cooking process. This one is made with butter, basmati, toasted nuts, caramelized onions and fragrant spices. One pot, so good.

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Rice pilaf is a great foundation recipe to know. Once you learn to make it well, you can tweak the recipe a thousand ways to your liking. This is a favorite approach for me. Be sure to make it pretty (and extra delicious) with toppings. There are a bunch listed in the recipe.
rice pilaf served in a bowl with an assortment of toppings

How To Make Rice Pilaf: The Technique

The backbone of a good pilaf is, of course, rice. You want it fluffy and well defined. For this pilaf, you build flavor early. Onions are caramelized in a blend of olive oil and butter. The butter browns and becomes fragrant. To that, spices are added, and ingredients like beans or pulses, toasted nuts, and dried fruit are added. You have a lot of latitude here, and the combination of chickpeas, chopped dates, and pistachios (pictured) are a favorite. Water is added and the pot simmers until the rice absorbs and softens. A finishing squeeze of citrus juice and shower of herbs brightens things up. Toppings like salted yogurt and olives are the finishing touch.
rice pilaf in a pot before serving

Rice Pilaf Variations

In place of dates: Use dried apricots, golden raisins, dried cherries, or dried figs.
Spices: The cinnamon version shared here is wonderful, but you can go in entirely different. directions by swapping in za’atar, curry powder, onion and garlic powder, mushroom powder, etc.
Experiment with grains: Adding a percentage of whole grains (or fast-cooking lentils) to a typical pilaf is a great way to incorporate a bit of a nutritional boost and ingredient diversity. For 2 cups of basmati rice a great place to start is 25%.

a pot of rice pilaf served on a table with bowls and yogurt

To Reheat

The key to reheating a rice pilaf like this one is to add a few tablespoons of water to the pan or dish you’re using. Heat gently, give it a good stir, and then go for a second round of heating. You mainly want to avoid the rice drying out, so adding a bit of moisture really helps.

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Iced Sesame Noodles

Iced sesame noodles have become a thing in our house in recent years. Cold noodles plus a creamy sesame sauce and a line up of great toppings equals custom bowls everyone loves!

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These iced sesame noodles have become my summertime bestie. Is it hot out? If so, there’s a good chance this is going to be on the table. I’m here to share the details before we run out of summer. Imagine a rotating cast of long, slurp-able noodles (soba, pici, somen, spaghetti, etc.) tangling with a creamy sesame sauce, topped with 4-5 easy toppings. That’s the basic formula. The noodles are served family-style in a large bowl of ice water. Everyone mixes up their own individual, custom portions. So good, so fun. Definitely a Japanese-inspired concept, dovetailing, in our house, with whatever is popping up at California farmers’ markets. I encourage you to incorporate whatever your family loves and the ingredients shining at your local markets.
sesame noodles in a bowl with ginger, zest, and chile oil toppings

Building an Iced Sesame Noodle Bowl

Aside from boiling the noodles, nearly everything else here can be prepared ahead of time. It’s part of what’s great about this and what makes it a weeknight-friendly meal. I like to toss some chopped veggies (whatever is on hand – broccoli, asparagus, etc.) in the pasta water after the noodles come out, keeping the cooking to a single pot. To summarize, here are the main components of the meal:

Noodles: Keep a selection of favorites on hand.
Homemade sesame sauce: make ahead and refrigerate for up to a week. Recipe below. Also, consider experimenting with almond butter and/or peanut butter in place of the tahini or sesame paste for another variation.
Toppings: I’ll list off twenty-plus favorites. Choose 4-5 for your meal.
Side veggies: And easy boost! As mentioned above, grab something that can do a quick boil in your pasta water after you remove the noodles. More ideas below.

five different noodles to make sesame noodles with

Let’s Talk about Noodle Options

I’ve done fantastic versions of this meal with all of the following. Think long and slurp-able on the noodle front. I also check my noodle labels to make sure they’re not wildly salted, to be honest, I’ve been caught off guard on a number of occasions.

Soba: I love the combination of buckwheat soba noodles and sesame and soba traditionally works well with sesame sauces similar to this one. Soba is a frequent go-to when I make this recipe and cold soba, in general, is summertime wonderful.
Somen: These thin Japanese wheat noodles are a crowd-pleasing favorite. Especially if you have picky eaters that aren’t as receptive to brown noodles.
Homemade pici: A hand-rolled Italian pasta, if you’re up for more of a project, cold pici really makes this whole situation something extra special.
Spaghetti: Give whatever spaghetti you love a try. I love the Monograno Felicetti Farro Spaghetti for its texture and boosted nutrition profile (not sponsored, just a fan), and the farro plays beautiful with the creamy sesame sauce. Pictured here.

sesame noodles in a bowl surrounded by a variety of toppings

Sesame Noodle Toppings

Choose 4-5 different toppings. I feel like grated ginger is a non-negotiable here. So good. And I leave any spicy component out of the base sesame sauce so that each person can light up their bowls with whatever level of spicy they can handle.

grated ginger: peel ginger with a spoon and grate with a microplane grater into a small bowl. Key topping!
something spicy: favorites for this recipe include Calabrian chile oil, chile crisp, tobanjan
toasted seeds and/or nuts: za’atar, traditional gomasio, I also make a red gomasio-ish (pictured above) that I’ll post the recipe for soon, toasted peanuts, etc.
tomatoes: specifically, these roasted cherry tomatoes
crunchy bits: for example, fried shallots or crispy jalapeño pieces (WB brought these home from TJ’s a few weeks ago)
pesto: a little dollop of pesto in your bowl along with the sesame sauce is pretty great.
lemon zest or chopped, preserved lemons
makrut lime leaves: thinly slivered
kale chips
chives
chopped scallions
grated carrots
hard boiled eggs, quartered

And as we move into later summer and early fall, and the weather is still hot enough for cold noodles, but the seasonal ingredients are shifting, here are a few other ideas:

thinly sliced, crisp apple
toasted pumpkin seeds
simple cauliflower
roasted cauliflower: This variation is next on my list, iced sesame noodles plus roasted cauliflower and some of the other ingredients in this recipe as toppings – mint, arugula, chopped dates, red onion, and a spice blend of toasted pine nuts, sesame, cumin, coriander, and red pepper flakes. It’s gonna be good.
Also! For the iced noodle bowl (above), play around. Add thin citrus slices – Meyer lemon, rangpur lime, kishu mandarin, orange, key lime are all recent favorites. You can also add fresh herbs or lime leaves or use a cold broth. I have a cold mushroom broth that works really well. The recipe for that one is in Super Natural Simple, in the back.

While You’re At It: Add a Side Veggie!

Broccoli florets, asparagus tops, green beans, yellow beans, corn – these are just a few of the vegetables I’ve cooked in a flash after cooking the noodles for the bowls. Boil for a mint or so, strain under cold water and serve on the side. Everyone loves to work the vegetables into their noodle bowls as well.

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How to Make a Great Vegetarian Poke Bowl

Let’s make a vegetarian poke bowl! They’re fantastic this time of year because they’re light, clean, filling but not heavy. Made with watermelon poke.

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Let’s talk about how to make a great vegetarian poke bowl. Poke is a much-loved, traditional, raw fish preparation, long popular in Hawaii. Fishermen would season bits of their catch, and snack on it while working. Poke (pronounced poh-kay) has exploded in popularity, well beyond Hawaii, in recent years. The version I’m posting today is for any of you who love the idea of poke or poke bowls, but don’t eat fish for whatever reason. Vegetarian poke bowls are particularly fantastic this time of year because they’re light, clean, filling but not heavy, you know?

How to Make a Great Vegetarian Poke Bowl

Vegetarian Poke Bowl: The Components

I typically use a watermelon poke, a version of this sushi rice (but any favorite sushi rice / blend will do), and a host of other vibrant toppings. Here you see firm, organic tofu, sliced avocado, blanched asparagus, shaved watermelon radish, and micro sprouts. If you have guacamole on hand, use a dollop of that! The bowl is drizzled, simply, with good soy sauce. And there’s a sprinkling of sesame seeds and scallions. The other topping I really crave, not pictured here, is a showering of crispy, fried shallots.

How to Make a Great Vegetarian Poke Bowl

Seasonal Variations

When it comes to toppings, what you see here is just a jumping off point. And I encourage you to play around with all the components. For example, you might trade in roasted squash cubes for the watermelon later in the year. Or, perhaps, a different melon varietal. And you could do roasted onions in place of scallions. Or, play around with the drizzle on top. For a quick poke bowl, I just do a soy sauce drizzle, but you could whip up something more complex. Have fun with it!

How to Make a Great Vegetarian Poke Bowl
Although, it can be argued, a vegetarian poke bowl isn’t a real poke bowl, it’s a great meal just the same. Keep your eyes peeled for other inspiration as well. I love seeing the creative vegetarian versions on menus at poke spots all over. Lots of ideas there that you might replicate in your own kitchens!

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Lemon Gigante Beans

If you’ve never cooked with giant beans, now is the time. In this dish baby fennel, plump Greek gigante beans, and sliced lemon tangle with a honey-kissed white wine sauce, all finished with a shower of chopped dill. A perfect side.

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This is baby fennel, giant beans (Greek gigante beans), sliced lemon, a honey-kissed, in-pan, white wine sauce, all finished with a shower of chopped dill. If any of you are in a side-dish rut, I’m going to lobby for trying this. It’s fast, it’s good, and as a base idea, it’s flexible. You can make the beans as instructed below, or use the recipe as a jumping off point.
gigante beans cooked with fennel and herbs in a serving dish

Lemon Gigante Beans: Variations

There are a lot of ways to tweak this recipe idea. There are also a bunch of great suggestions down in the comments as well!

When made in an oven-proof skillet, top it with feta, chopped olives, and breadcrumbs, and bake into a crunchy-topped gratin.
Add a poached egg on top of each serving to make a complete one bowl meal.
Add a few cups of water (or herby broth), season well, and you have a bright, substantial stew.

Giant Beans: Favorite Sources

Greek gigante beans can be challenging to source in local stores. I tend to stock up ( with a few bags) when finding them, or order, in bulk, on line.

Arosis Gigante Beans: Keep an eye out for the organic version of these as well.
Rancho Gordo Royal Corona Beans: These are a fantastic substitute for Greek gigandes. Comparable in size, they’re often a bit creamier.

cooked gigante beans in a serving dish on a table

More Bean Recipes

Chipotle Cinnamon Slow-Cooked Coconut Beans
Giant Chipotle Baked Beans
Health Nut Vegan Chili
My favorite basic bean technique: How To Cook Beans
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Roasted Broccoli

The bonus part of this roasted broccoli is the creamy tahini under-dressing along with the scallion-peanut sprinkle. Inspired by a sheet pan recipe in Alison Roman’s Dining In, this broccoli is on repeat.

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This roasted broccoli dinner is all about easy adaptability. Broccoli, tossed in a bit of spiced olive oil is roasted in a blistering hot oven. A creamy, tahini under-dressing is smeared generously across your serving platter. Everything is finished with magic mix of basil, peanuts, dried fruit, and scallions. Mark my words, people can’t get enough of it.
roasted broccoli on a serving plate

Why This Roasted Broccoli is So Good

One of the magic elements of this recipe is the pop of sweetness you get from using a bit of roasted dried fruit. So resist skipping out on the fruit. Seriously. I like using golden raisins because they plump up, ooze a bit of sugary juice, and then caramelize where the juice hits the baking sheet. But if sourcing them is a challenge, just go for chopped dried apricots, or chopped dates. It all comes off one sheet pan, plated on a single, family-style platter.

Inspiration:

Alison Roman has a brilliant version in her Dining In cookbook using cauliflower florets and dates. That was my starting point months ago, and this is where we ended up. A greened up third cousin of sorts.
roasted broccoli on a table for dinner

More Variations

Caramelized and deeply-roasted broccoli is my favorite vegetable angle here, but don’t limit yourself. Other Ideas:

Cauliflower: As mentioned above, Alison’s version uses cauliflower.
Brussels Sprouts: Feathery leaves of Brussels sprouts make another great alternate, I like to shred them.
Mixed Vegetables: Can’t decide? Do a mix of vegetables (the blend in the photo is mostly broccolini with a few handfuls of shredded brussels sprouts).
No tahini? Almond butter or sunflower seed butter work nicely as well. A completely different direction is to mix a bit of salt into yogurt, spice it up a bit.

Roasted Broccoli Dinner

You can see (above) I serve the broccoli platter alongside simple soba noodles tossed with a splash of olive oil, seasoned with a pinch of salt, and sprinkled with a mix of seeds. I boil the soba noodles while the vegetables are roasting, and it makes for a nice meal.

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Niçoise Salad

Everyone can find ingredients to love In this vegetarian take on Niçoise Salad! Beans and artichokes take the place of tuna (or anchovies) here alongside tender potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, cherry tomatoes, and green beans.

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Let’s talk about Niçoise Salad. It’s an arrangement traditionally made with ingredients local to the Provencal city of Nice. Purists often argue that a proper salad Niçoise has a long list of hard nos. No lettuces, no boiled potatoes, green beans are out, avocados (lol), no vinaigrette, and on and on. The list is extensive and if you want a deeper dive into the history, read this. What is allowed? Olive oil-packed anchovies and raw tomatoes, and salt. Many versions have evolved from this including the one I make most.
Nicoise salad on a large serving platter

Nicoise Salad: The Inspiration

In recent years Niçoise salad has become a frequent “go-to” when we have friends or family over. This is because arranged on a platter it is a gorgeous, abundant, queen of a salad. More important, in this modern age, it can accommodate nearly everyone’s dietary preferences. This is no small feat here in Los Angeles and a huge win-win in my book. This version works for vegans and vegetarians, people avoiding dairy, as well as anyone gluten-free. We’re vegetarian, but not every one is. If you want to shift things toward a more traditional Niçoise salad, you can retain the fish component. We all have a friend who is passionate about tinned fish – have them bring a favorite to serve on the side.
ingredients for a Nicoise arranged on a counter including hard-boiled eggs, green beans, potatoes, olives, lettuces

Niçoise Salad Ingredients

Beans or lentils: For a vegetarian version (as pictured) replace the traditional fish component – tuna or anchovies – with beans or lentils. You see freshly shelled cranberry beans in the photos here (boiled until tender), but French lentils are another great option. Chickpeas or cannelloni beans also work well.
Potatoes: Small, waxy potatoes are ideal here.
Lettuces: Some camps embrace lettuces as a component here, others, not so much. I love to include pockets of perfect little gem lettuces. They’re great for scooping and wrapping other ingredients and lend a fresh bolt of green to the whole scene.
Tomatoes: Ripe, seasonal, fresh tomatoes are the goal here. If you include cherry tomatoes, halve them. Larger tomatoes? Slice into quarters.
Hard boiled eggs: Eggs bring the protein to this salad along with any beans or lentils you might include. I include my favorite way to hard boil eggs, no grey yolks, bright yellow yolks in the recipe below.
String Beans: Tender, green beans (or yellow beans) are a key component. Getting their texture right is the challenge. Build for a flash, until they relax a shade and brighten a bit. Then shock them in cold water.
Olives: Niçoise olives are the traditional choice, of course, but if you have other olive varietals on hand, do let that deter you from making Niçoise salad, or Niçoise-ish Salad.
Artichokes: If I know I’m going to make a Niçoise salad, I’ll cook a bit skillet of artichoke hearts the night prior. Eat some with dinner, and save some in the refrigerator for the Niçoise the next day. Here’s how to cook artichokes along with some tips because I love them so much.
Vinaigrette: A strong vinaigrette is my preference here, and I include mine in the recipe below. Be sure to make it with good tasting vinegar.
Lemons: If you have a grill going, grilled halves of lemon are a nice addition.

Niçoise Salad: How To Make Ahead

One of the things to love about Niçoise salad is that many of the components can be made ahead.

Vinaigrette: Make the vinaigrette up to 4 days in advance.
Artichokes can be cooked a day or two ahead.
Potatoes, green beans, and hard-boiled eggs can be boiled a day ahead.
Lettuces can be washed and dried a day or two ahead of time.
Beans can been cooked from dried up to 2-3 days ahead.

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An Amazing Vegetarian Paella

A much-loved vegetarian paella recipe. And, for this veg-centric, California-inspired take on the Spanish classic, you don’t need a special pan.

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Let’s make paella! You can absolutely do it, and for this veg-centric, California-inspired take on the Spanish classic, you don’t need a special pan. Many paellas feature various meats and seafoods, but vegetarian paella can be a revelation. This version is fully loaded with a rainbow of seasonal vegetables cooked into a saffron and paprika-scented rice based dream.

Once you have the technique down, the adaptations can be endless. Paella is a great way to use up random seasonal vegetables in your crisper, and leftovers are A-plus. And I’m going to tell you how it can be week-night friendly. Really!

Ingredients for Vegetarian Paella

You Don’t Need a Special Paella Pan

If you have a traditional paella pan, great! Use it. That said, don’t let the lack of a special pan foil your paella endeavors. I’ve successfully cooked paella in copper pans (a favorite), as well as stainless steel, and cast iron. Use what you have, the wider the better. I’m including instructions for two different sized pans in the recipe, please reference the head notes.

How to Make Paella Weeknight Friendly

Paella can be a great, realistic go-to weeknight recipe if you do one thing. Keep this sofrito on hand. Have some ready in the refrigerator, keep back up in the freezer. If you have a bit of saffron and paprika around, with some broth, rice, and seasonal vegetables, you’re ready to make paella. And it’s quite simple.

An Amazing Vegetarian Paella Served in Skillet

The Best Rice For Paella

Choosing the right rice for paella is key. Ideally, you want a short-grain, stubby paella rice, something like this, or this. Look for Bomba. Paella rices are celebrated for being able to absorb more water (or broth) than other rices, while maintaining structure. This translates to a paella with definition between grains – no mushy rice. I also love this article about choosing rice for paella with Russ Moore (of Camino in Oakland, CA). He uses a well-rinsed, local, Japanese short-grain varietal, and his paella is beautiful. If you do experiment with non-paella rice varietals, you’ll need to play around a bit and adjust the liquids.

Can I Use Brown Rice?

I’ve tried. I’ve tested 100% brown rice paella, and blends. Here’s the problem. Brown rice takes a lot longer to cook comparatively. So, the way paella comes together is the following. You get all your ingredients in the pan, stir once, and then leave it alone. This is half the battle when it comes to achieving a golden-crusted bottom (desirable!), see below. When you use brown rice, you end up with overcooked vegetables, because you need to cook it so long. My advice? Stick with tradition and use a short-grain paella rice.

The Trick to Achieving Socarrat Magic

Today’s recipe focuses on paella made indoors, in a modern kitchen. That said, many paella are cooked grilled, over open flame. One of the things you hope to achieve in either scenario is socarrat – that golden crusted rice bottom. The skill, of course, coming from just the right amount of toastiness – not too little, not burned. If you’re brave, give your paella a moment or so on a burner, after removing from the oven, to increase your likelihood of some good socarrat! Takes some practice.

How to Make Vegetarian Paella Awesome

Here’s the deal, you need to load up on seasonal vegetables. Experiment! There are so many ingredients that are fair game here. I like ingredients with a bit of structure, that can handle some cooking time. Asparagus (thicker stem vs. skinny), baby artichokes, summer squash, fava beans, cherry tomatoes, peas, etc.

Paella Verde Variation

A green version of the vegetarian paella you see pictured here is fantastic. Simply stir in 1/4 pound of well chopped spinach or kale with the other vegetables.

Recent paella enthusiasm was inspired by a beautiful paella birthday dinner cooked by my friend Bonni Evensen. You can see pics in my Instagram feed.

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Mushroom Scallops

To make mushroom “scallops” keep your eyes peeled for big mushrooms! So worth it. Slice king oyster mushrooms into scallop-shaped rounds and saute until tender and golden. Toss with a flavor-packed mixture of onions, cherry tomatoes, ginger, garlic, lime and a a special sauce.

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Mushroom “scallops” are simply gigantic mushroom stems sliced into rounds that resemble sea scallops. They’re a great veg option, and anytime I spot heavy-duty king oyster mushrooms with their chunky, bulbous stems, I buy a pound. They’re fantastic grilled, sautéed, and broiled. Today’s recipe is one I jotted down in my recipe notebook a while back and have revisited over (and over!) in the year since.
notebook with mushroom scallops recipe written out in pencil
Here are the details. King oyster mushroom stems are sliced into thick scallop-shaped rounds and sautéed until golden. They’re tossed with a mixture of onions, cherry tomatoes, chiles, ginger, garlic and a good amount of lemon-boosted coco aminos (or soy sauce). The whole situation is fantastic over your favorite noodles, ravioli, rice or other grains – soba noodles are a favorite here.
mushroom scallops on a plate

King Oyster Mushrooms

Beloved for their size and nutty umami flavor when cooked, these mushrooms are wildly fun to experiment with. When you slice a king oyster mushroom stem into thick rounds, you end up with a scallop shape. But don’t waste the caps! The mild, nutty caps are the most tender part, Slice those into thick slabs as well and treat them like the stems. You can cook them in a small splash of oil in a hot pan. You can grill them. You can bake them. They’re wonderful sautéed. I made this version in the pan, but I also like to pre-make the tomato-ginger-garlic component and grill the mushrooms if it’s that kind of a day (or gathering).
ingredients to cook mushroom scallops on a counter including garlic, ginger, onions

Where to Buy King Oyster Mushrooms

I tend to find king oyster mushrooms at local farmers’ markets. There are an increasing number of mushroom growers around it seems. Japanese markets can be a reliable source as well. You might also see them labelled as king trumpet mushrooms. Select your mushrooms carefully, they can be pricey. For this recipe, look for mushrooms with thick, wide stems. They should be firm and free of discoloration. Brush any dirt and debris from them with a mushroom brush or damp towel, and avoid dunking in water to clean.
mushroom scallops cooking in a hot skillet

Mushroom Scallops: Tips & Tricks

First tip: avoid crowding your pan with too many mushrooms. For this recipe, either cook them in two batches, use two pans, or use a griddle. They will shrink down a lot as the mushrooms release moisture. You don’t want steamed, soggy mushrooms. Cook for 5-6 minutes, along with a good sprinkling of salt, on each side or until, they release moisture and turn golden brown. Second tip? Score a shallow grid pattern into the cut sides of your mushrooms. See photo below. This results in better texture, and sauce and minced ingredients are able to get up in there a bit.
raw king trumpet mushrooms before cooking
You can see the grid-scoring in the mushrooms above. You can also see how I like to cut the caps, so nothing goes to waste. They’re not scallop shaped, but if that doesn’t bother you, they’re arguably the best part. Alternately, you can save the caps for another meal.
mushroom scallops on a plate served over rice

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Zucchini Gratin

A decadent, crunchy-topped zucchini gratin made from thinly sliced summer squash, potatoes, oregano pesto, and brown-buttered breadcrumbs. It’s all baked at high-temperature until the squash is tender and the top is crunchy. So good!

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Today’s recipe highlights a decadent, crunchy-topped zucchini gratin. It was inspired by a mountain of summer squash I encountered at the farmers’ market – yellow squash, green zucchini, patty pans, globes, and others. If you’re looking for ways to use up zucchini, you’re in the right place. This gratin recipe features lots it, thinly sliced, with new potatoes, an oregano pesto, and brown-buttered breadcrumbs. It’s all baked at high-temperature until the squash is tender and the top is crunchy. I used a mix of yellow and green zucchini but you can certainly experiment with whatever you have on hand, or whatever your garden might be producing.

zucchini gratin in a baking dish

Zucchini Gratin: The Basics

The main thing to know about this recipe is that it’s wildly adaptable. You can experiment with different cheeses. Play around with the herb component. Although I love oregano, don’t feel tied to the herby sauce I call for here, if you have an alternate sauce or pesto on hand. And if you love a bit more spice, work in some chile pepper paste. If you feel like the recipe if a bit indulgent for a weeknight, dial back the olive oil and butter a bit.

zucchini gratin in a baking dish

Zucchini Gratin: Variations

You’ve cooked and noted a bunch of variations on this recipe in the comments over the years. I wanted to call out a few that jumped out to me in case you’re looking to mix things up a bit. A number of people recommend making double the sauce for using on the gratin and other things throughout the week.

Kate says, ”…used basil and feta, and only had some panko on hand, but it all worked!”
Sarah, “…parmesan and goat cheddar in place of gruyere and no potatoes. Yum, will definitely be a belly-filling summer favorite.”
Rachel, “…didn’t realize I’d run out of gruyere. I substituted with parmesan and it was great. Also, I didn’t have fresh oregano or parsley and used fresh rosemary instead. This all turned out really well!”
Suzanna made a vegan version, “…for those interested in doing a vegan version, I used a vegan soy cheese, the only one I’ve found that actually melts well, called Follow Your Heart (available at Whole Foods). I used 1/2 cup of that, plus 1/4 cup of regular parmesan – but I could have easily used a soy/vegan parmesan instead. Oh, and I used Earth Balance margarine with the breadcrumbs. Wonderful!”
Along similar lines, Nori notes, “ I also used a vegan “cheese” recipe from The Voluptuous Vegan instead of the cheese you call for here, which, while I’m sure it made it less creamy, really held it together well.”
Heather also skipped the potatoes, “I made this the other night and WOW. I didn’t have any potatoes so I used a red bell pepper and a small onion, I didn’t have any fresh parsley and oregano so I used half a red bell pepper and 8 basil leaves, and I used raw sheep’s milk cheese because that’s what I had on hand…and it was amazing!”

sliced zucchini tossed with cheese and bread crumbs

I hope you enjoy the gratin! Lastly, a bit off topic, but someone was asking me in the comments the other day about my food routines. They were curious about how often I shop, my favorite stores here in SF, when I cook – that sort of thing. I’m also curious about your food routines, so I thought I’d share mine in the hope that you would share a bit about yours as well in the comments.

Generally speaking, I’m mindful of what I buy, I shop close to home, and (stating the obvious) I cook quite a bit. When I was in San Francisco, a weekly trip to the farmers’ market was the cornerstone of my food shopping- either the Ferry Building Market, or the Marin Market – both amazing. I’d round things out with trips to Bi-Rite Market and Rainbow Grocery along with a few other specialty stores in SF as well as the East bay. Now that I’m in Southern California I tend to rotate through a few different farmers’ markets – Long Beach, Santa Monica, Irvine, Hollywood and I love finding and exploring the endless number of Japanese, Persian, Indian, Thai, and other grocers (and bakers) in the region.
zucchini gratin with lots of breadcrumbs in a baking dish

More Zucchini Recipes

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