I saw Valerie Bertinelli make this recipe on the Food Network and I thought I can make this and do a few little twists and turns to make it my own and according to my preferences. So thank you Valerie for the initial idea and know this recipe is my take on the basics of what she made.
Since I do not have a large family I am always looking for ways to scale down recipes in order to make them for two. Just recognize that you can double or triple this recipe according to the number of mouths you need to feed.
I was initially intrigued by how good this recipe looked but was even more pleased with how it tasted. It looks like it would be difficult to do but in actuality it’s really rather simple. All you need is a little patience, and I recognize that may be a challenge for some home cooks. But believe me, in this case, patience is well worth what you will receive in the end.
The original recipe was meatless but I like to put meat in my marinara sauce. I think it adds to the overall flavor. But rest assured, you can easily make this a meatless meal and it will be equally delicious.
So let’s talk cheesy zucchini rollatini…
Lesson Learned 1 – You will need a mandolin slicer for this recipe: In order to get even long strips to roll the filling in, you will need to use a mandolin slicer. When I first saw this on tv I thought it would be hard but it was actually rather simple. Just cut of the ends off the zucchini, set your slicer to cut a 1/8 inch slice, place the zucchini on the mandolin with the palm of your hand on top of the zucchini and move it slowly downwards to create the slice. Chances are the first slice you will need to discard as the bottom of the zucchini will be a little uneven, but beyond that you should get some great slices.
A couple of things to keep in mind: This recipe works better with larger zucchinis. You get larger and longer strips. Also it is very important to take your time during this step. Slowly move the zucchini over the blade with the palm of your hand on top. As you get closer to the top of the zucchini quit cutting and use another zucchini if needed. When I made this recipe I only needed 1 large zucchini but you should plan on two and go from there. I got five nice slices out of a large zucchini which was enough for us. Again I cannot stress enough the need to work slowly and carefully when moving the zucchini through the slicer. It really is an easy process but one you need to do with care.
Lesson Learned 2 – You will need to soften the zucchini slices before filling and rolling them: The zucchini slices will roll more easily if you soften them slightly. You can do this by filling a large skillet with a couple of inches of water and heat the water to simmering. Then put the slices in for a very short period of time (I put them in the water for a minute and a half). Then gently lift them out and place them on a paper lined plate to blot off any excess moisture. You will immediately notice a difference in the texture of the zucchini. It will be softer and much more pliable. Once they cool to the touch you will be able to fill and roll them.
Lesson Learned 3 – Make the cheese mixture first: I found it helpful to have the cheese mixture ready to go once the zucchini slices were ready to stuff and roll. When that process is done you can just keep them on the plate until your marinara sauce is heated and ready for them.
The hardest part, and believe me it isn’t really hard at all, is making the zucchini rolls. The rest is pretty basic but boy does it create one heck of a dish. Try this sometime with some garlic bread and a nice salad and you will have an impressive, delicious meal, one that you will make over and over again.
Cheesy Zucchini Rollatini...
INGREDIENTS:
1 Italian sausage link, casing removed (or about 1/8 pound Italian sausage)
1-2 large zucchinis
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 tsp. fresh oregano, chopped
1 tsp. fresh basil, chopped
1/2 tsp. lemon zest
1 1/4 cups shredded mozzarella, divided plus some additional for final garnish
1 egg
1-2 cups marinara sauce
Kosher salt
Italian seasoning, to taste
Italian parsley for garnish, optional
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Add about 2 inches of lightly salted water to a large skillet and bring the water to a simmer.
Mix together the ricotta, oregano, basil, lemon zest and 3/4 cup of the mozzarella. Add 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt. In a small separate bowl, crack open and beat the egg. Add 1 Tbs. of the beaten egg to the cheese mixture. Stir to combine. (You will either have to repurpose or discard the remainder of the egg).
Trim the ends of the zucchini and slice them lengthwise on a mandolin slicer to about 1/8 inch thick. Reserve the larger interior slices and save the rest for other uses.
Place the zucchini slices in batches into the simmering hot water and cook for about 1 1/2 minutes. Remove the slices and place them on a paper lined plate to drain the slices and remove any excess moisture. Continue this process with any remaining slices.
In an eight inch ovenproof skillet (I used a cast iron skillet), cook the Italian sausage until lightly browned. Add the marina and some Italian seasoning and cook until warmed through.
While the sauce is warming lay the dried zucchini slices out on a work surface. Spoon a tablespoon of the cheese mixture on one end of the slice and gently roll up the slice. Place on a plate seam side down. Continue with the remaining slices.
Add the slices into the warm sauce seam side down. Spoon a little marinara sauce over the tops of the slices. Sprinkle some shredded mozzarella on top. Sprinkle some Italian seasoning over the mozzarella.
Cover the skillet with foil and cook for 20 minutes. Remove the skillet from the oven after 20 minutes and set the oven to 400 degrees. Sprinkle some additional mozzarella on top of the slices and place the skillet uncovered back into the oven for an additional 10 minutes.
Remove the skillet from the oven and let it stand for 5 minutes. Serve with a salad and some garlic bread.
Lesson Learned 1 – Tips for working with pizza dough: Pizza dough, like most other types of dough, likes to rest before you roll it out. One common mistake with using store bought pizza dough is to take it out of the refrigerator and immediately start working with it. Doing that will result in a tough crust. Let the dough rest on your counter for about 20 minutes before you begin rolling it out. That way the glutens in your dough won’t get overworked and you won’t have a tough crust.
Lesson Learned 3 – Don’t drench the pizza with sauce: I used the smallest jar of marinara I could find, 14 ounces, and I still didn’t use all of it. Now you may ask should I use pizza sauce or pasta sauce. I don’t think it really matters. Some make pizzas with alfredo sauce. I don’t think there is a hard fast rule. It’s really all up to you. What’s more important is to make sure you don’t drown your dough in sauce. Just spread it on to lightly and evenly cover it. You don’t want to create soggy dough.
Another mistake common in making homemade pizza putting the toppings on too thick. Now don’t get me wrong, I like lots of toppings on my pizza. Just be careful not to create a huge mound. What happens when putting too much toppings on is the crust will get done before your toppings are cooked or even warmed through. You don’t want that.
Lesson Learned 2 – Cook the breakfast sausage until you see only a little light pink: Remember the quiche is going to bake for an hour so the sausage will continue to cook during that time. I like to cook my sausage first, mix it with the cream cheese and let it sit a little before I put it in the pie crust. I normally use that time to put the egg mixture together.
Lesson Learned 4 – Use a good melting cheese: You can use a wide variety of melting cheeses in a quiche. I like this particular recipe because it pairs a little cream cheese with another melting cheese. I used muenster in this recipe but you can also use cheddar, gruyere, swiss, or mozzarella. That’s the beauty of making a quiche. The choice is yours!
1 9 inch frozen pie crust
Lesson Learned 1: Slightly par boil your potatoes before roasting them: I don’t know about you but I’ve found that roasting potatoes can be tricky. I usually wind up with hard or semi hard potatoes that are not cooked through. In this recipe it is important to cut the potatoes as evenly as possible (mine were approximately one inch squares). Once I do that I put them in a pot with water, bring the water to a boil and boil the potatoes for about 5 minutes or just until they start to turn tender around the edges. Then I drain the potatoes and let me cool slightly in the strainer. I’ve found when I do this my potatoes come out perfectly when making this recipe. After I strain off the water I transfer them into a bowl so that I can coat them with the balsamic mixture before putting them in the roasting pan. It’s a little extra work, but definitely worth it.
Lesson Learned 2 – This recipe roasts the carrots to crisp tender: Carrots are also tricky to cook and although I prefer mine to be crisp tender, some people prefer their carrots to be soft. If soft is your preference roasting them this way will not give you that consistency unless you either cut them into thin rounds or use small baby carrots. I cut my carrots into about 2 inch chunks, cut each chunk into half and then half again. This produced a somewhat softened crisp tender carrot, which I love.
but you can make it has hot as you like. McCormick has a few varieties of seasonings and if you can’t find a seasoning mix that gets you the heat you crave you can always add red pepper flakes. This seasoning mix contains a blend of chili pepper, paprika, cumin, onion salt and garlic. I also add about a teaspoon of chili powder and this combination of seasonings gives us the kind of chili we prefer.
Lesson Learned 1 – Buy chicken breasts with skin and ribs and debone the chicken yourself: You want to do this for a couple of reasons. First it is much less expensive to buy chicken this way. Second by leaving the skin on it keeps the breast nice and moist during the slow roasting process. Invest in a good boning knife and regularly maintain it with a hand sharpening tool like the one pictured to the left. It is surprisingly inexpensive and will keep your knife nice and sharp for a long time and boning the chicken breasts will be a breeze. These days it’s pretty hard to find boneless breasts with the skin still on so this may be the only way to do it.
Lesson Learned 2 – Use a rice mixture for an extra flavor boost: Go ahead, be adventurous and use a rice mixture instead of just plain white rice. You can use wild rice, basmati rice or the mixture that I use which is a combination of white, brown, wild and red rice and pictured to the right. You’ll be amazed at how it punches up the flavor volume and makes the dish even more interesting.
Lesson Learned 1 – Try to use chicken breasts with the skin on: I normally buy chicken breasts with the skin on and rib portions attached. First they are cheaper when purchased that way and second it’s easy to remove the rib portion and you’re left with a skin-on breast. Chicken can dry out very easily in a slow cooker and often can get overcooked. With the skin on it gives the breast meat more moisture during the cooking process and that is what you’re looking for. But sometimes you just can’t find them that way and that’s ok as well. Both times I made this recipe I had skinless breasts in the freezer and so I used them. But in my experience with other recipes, skin on breasts are preferred when cooking them in a slow cooker.
Lesson Learned 3 – Don’t overcook the chicken: I know, easier said then done, but most people overcook chicken breasts no matter what cooking method they are using. Chicken breasts can be moist as well as cooked through but there is a fine line between when that occurs and dried out chicken.
Lesson Learned 4 – You can cook a veggie with the chicken if you want to: The first time I made this recipe I only cooked the chicken in the bbq sauce mixture. The second time I added carrots. When it came time to shred the meat I just pulled out the carrots, put them on a baking sheet lined with foil and sprayed with cooking spray and kept them in a warm oven until dinner was served. Make sure you use cooking spray on the foil as the remnants of the bb sauce on the carrots will stick to the foil and you don’t want the carrots sticking. Also make sure you don’t use overly thick carrots – they won’t cook through in six hours.
3 large chicken breasts, skin on preferred
I finally worked with a butcher at Safeway who cut me a two rib roast and tied the bones to the bottom as I requested. The roast coast $44 for a 4.3 pound roast. Still expensive, and choice but not prime, but I could rationalize that for a special meal more than $68.00. In the end the roast was fabulous so I was glad I opted for the less expensive cut. My next step was researching various cooking methods and determining what I felt would work for me. So I have some really good lessons learned to share with this blog…
Lesson Learned 4 – A rub on the roast makes a difference: I used a rub consisting of olive oil, fresh garlic, fresh rosemary, thyme, and salt and pepper. What I found is the rub creates a delicious crust when cooked at those initial high temperatures. It added a fabulous flavor to the meat. I highly recommend the rub in this recipe. It tasted divine!
1 4-5 pound rib roast, bones tied to the bottom
Lesson Learned 1 – You probably will not need an entire tube of breakfast sausage: This recipe is made in an 8 x 8 pan and serves four. Double it if you want to make it in a 13 x 9 pan. In the smaller pan you probably will not need the entire tube of sausage. Use as much as you like and if you are a true meat eater use the whole thing. We only needed about three quarters of the tube. We froze the rest to use later.
Lesson Learned 1 – I used ground italian sausage but you can also use prosciutto: My husband needs to eat foods that are easy to chew and so I used ground italian sausage. If you choose to use prosciutto, use about 5 thin slices. Add them to the onions once they are translucent and cook them until they are crisp. Then follow the remainder of the recipe as is. I guarantee it will be equally as good.
when I looked at the ingredients they were all natural. There were no names that I couldn’t pronounce. Natural and organic foods are much higher in cost. That is unfortunate as I hate to think about all these chemicals we can put in our bodies every day. But heck, before I was born my mother drank and smoked and I’m still here. I guess the idea is why tempt fate. The better you take care of yourself the better your chances are of living a longer healthier life.
Lesson Learned 3 – If you’ve never had it, try some mint jelly with your lamb chops: I was introduced to lamb chops with mint jelly when I was a kid. I was at a friend’s house for dinner and this is what was served. I never had lamb before and didn’t know what to think. At the time I was not all that enamored with the flavor but was afraid to say anything to my friend’s mom so I just said it was fabulous. Because of that, she made lamb with mint jelly every time I came over for dinner. I learned to love it, and now it is one of my all time favorites. Just use a little jelly with a piece of lamb. The flavor combination is to die for!
You want to be careful not to overload your ground beef with bread crumbs. You’ll dry it out. After making hamburgers and meatloaf for years and now salisbury steak, I know how the beef should feel so that it will not be overly dry. It should feel moist but not overly sticky. This is something you’ll get a feel for over time. Don’t worry about it. I always add about half the amount of bread crumbs the recipe calls for to begin with and add more from there. You can always add more and you don’t want to wind up with too much bread crumbs in the mix.
