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Zucchini Delight

Recipes / Main Courses

Based on How It All Vegan by Tanya Barnard and Sarah Kramer

Serves 4.

• 1 1/2 cups soy mozzarella cheese, grated
• 1 28-oz can diced tomatoes
• 5 cups zucchini, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup cooked lentils
• 1/2 cup jasmine rice, uncooked

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large casserole dish (I use 9x13), combine 1/2 cup of the cheese with the tomatoes, zucchini, oregano, basil, red pepper flakes, salt, lentils, and the rice. Stir together. Top with remaining cheese and bake uncovered for 30-40 minutes or until rice is done. Makes 2-4 servings.

Notes

We make this somewhat often. I prefer to prepare the lentils from dried rather than use canned. If you start them cooking before you do everything else, they will be done at about the time you are ready for them. They take about 30 minutes to cook. To get up to 1 cup cooked, you'll want to use a little less than 1/2 cup dried. Sometimes I think 1/3 cup dried would do it, but I haven't been brave enough to try that yet. I just eat any extra lentils warm with some balsamic vinegar.

I almost always go closer to the 40 minute cooking time, because the rice can end up a bit crunchy otherwise. The instruction "until rice is done" is dumb, because the rice is mixed in, and it's not easy to tell whether it's done unless you pull the dish out of the oven and take a bite. I have made this before with sweet brown rice instead of the jasmine and it was fine.