Cheesy Zucchini & Chive Bake
Ingredients
- 2 lb about 4 medium zucchini, cut into 1/2 inch thick half-moons
- 3 eggs
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1/2 red onion, minced
- 1 bunch chives, chopped
- 7 oz shredded sharp cheddar
- 1/2 cup butter round cracker crumbs aka Ritz
- 1/2 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon ground mustard
- salt
- freshly ground black pepper
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350. Grease an 8x8 inch baking dish.
- Steam the zucchini until just tender* Drain (if needed) and allow to cool.
- Place the zucchini in the prepared pan.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, chives, milk, and spices Stir in the onions and cheese. Pour over the zucchini.
- Sprinkle the top with Ritz crumbs. Bake 35 minutes, until bubbly and browned.
Notes
I’m surprised this is my first recipe in August! I guess I made the tomato cobbler longer ago than I thought. I have been hard at work on another project that so far has involved the creation of 20 new recipes in the last couple of months and I simply haven’t made many new dishes I can share here. I have so many recipes here already (about 2,200), honestly, it’s increasingly difficult to come up with something new! I guess that is to be expected after 17 years! Another issue is the ongoing pandemic, we’ve cooked nearly every single thing we’ve eaten since mid-March 2020 and I’m still trying to avoid shopping super frequently so I’m not always making the most exciting, blog-worthy dishes. Tasty but not terribly exciting. Making meals every single day takes a lot out of you! In the before times we’d go out to eat (which we haven’t done since March 2020) or get take out and then I’d have more energy to focus on the meals I did make at home but that’s not where we are at yet. I love not having ads here, I find them crazy annoying when I look at other blogs and recipe sites but that does mean I have to prioritize paid recipe work when I can. There is only so much time in a day and how much food that two people can eat!
We got some chives in our CSA so we thought we’d toss them in with some zucchini and make a sort of casserole. Growing up my mom made a zucchini and sour cheese with cheddar dish both of us really enjoyed and this sort of reminded me of that but with eggs and more seasoning. It’s a great way to use up some zucchini which is plentiful this time of year and the leftovers are quite tasty. We found we really like Ritz crackers (aka Aldi “buttery rounds”) as crumbs in crab cakes so we’ve been expanding that into other dishes. It really adds richness and they stay very crispy and brown, unlike breadcrumbs which I often end up having to brown in a skillet before using. My husband felt like it needed a touch more milk but I like a firmer texture and I think zucchini is a bit of a wild card when it comes to giving off water, you don’t want to add too much or you might end up with a soggy mess. If your zucchini or the mixture seems dry or you like a runnier texture, feel free to add some extra milk.
