Zucchini casserole with tomatoes and minced meat

Name: Zucchini casserole with tomatoes and minced meat
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 4-6
Ingredients: 450 g minced meat (beef, pork or turkey); 300 g mozzarella; 4 medium zucchini; 600 g finely chopped tomatoes; 3 garlic cloves; 1 medium onion; 1 sweet green pepper; 4 slices white bread; 2 tsp. dried oregano; 5 sprigs of basil; 5 sprigs of parsley; chili pepper flakes; olive oil; salt, freshly ground black pepper

Cookinero 19 October 2022

A casserole with zucchini, minced meat and tomatoes looks like a big meat pie. But, unlike pies, where you have to mess around with the dough, making such a casserole is as easy as shelling pears.

How to cook Zucchini casserole with tomatoes and minced meat

Step 1

Preheat oven to 175˚C. Cut the zucchini lengthwise into plates 7-8 mm thick, put on a baking sheet covered with parchment, salt a little. Put the baking sheet in the oven and bake the zucchini for 15-20 minutes.

Step 2

Peel the onion and garlic. Remove seeds and membranes from peppers. Cut the onion and pepper into small cubes, chop the garlic.

Step 3

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic, onion and pepper and sauté 7-10 minutes until soft. Add the minced meat to the pan and continue to fry, breaking up any lumps of minced meat with a spatula, 5 minutes. Pour in the crushed tomatoes, add the chili flakes, oregano, basil and parsley and simmer for 30 minutes over low heat. Salt, pepper and remove from heat.

Step 4

Cut the crusts off the bread and crumble the crumb. Toast the crumbs in a dry frying pan until golden brown.

Step 5

Sprinkle some toasted breadcrumbs into the bottom of a rectangular baking dish, then top with a layer of zucchini. Drizzle with meat sauce and sprinkle with mozzarella. Lay out a layer of zucchini again and sprinkle with breadcrumbs. Repeat layers until you run out of ingredients. The top layer should be a layer of mozzarella.