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olive oil garlic red onion tomatoes tomato paste oregano thyme basil parsley eggplant green pepper zucchini summer quinoa Mozzarella cheese
Viewed: 81 - Published at: 10 years agoIngredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 red onion, thinly sliced (I processed the garlic and onion in my food processor)
- 14 1/2 ounces diced tomatoes (with the liquid, don't drain)
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (I used powdered because that's what I had)
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon basil
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley (I used dried because that's what I had)
- 1 large eggplant, cubed (I did not 'sweat' this, nor did I remove any skin)
- 1 green pepper, thinly sliced (I did not know what this meant, so I cut it in roughly square pieces like you would for stir-fry)
- 2 zucchini, sliced (do not peel)
- 1 summer squash, sliced (do not peel)
- 1 cup cooked quinoa (cooked according to packaged directions, I used pre-rinsed quinoa in a box from the grocery store.)
- 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese
Method
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat.
- Add garlic and onion.
- Saute until softened, about 5 minutes. (the onion starts to turn clear).
- Stir in tomatoes, tomato paste, oregano, basil, thyme and parsley. Continue to cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Remove from heat.
- Layer half of the tomato and onion mixture into the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish (I sprayed mine with Pam first).
- Top with ALL of the uncooked vegetables.
- Add the remaining tomato and onion mixture and spread over the top.
- Spread the cooked Quinoa on top, then sprinkle with cheese.
- Cover with foil and bake for 40-45 minutes.
- Remove foil for the last 5 minutes of cooking.
- When I made this, my vegetables must have been larger than the recipe-writer's, as by the time I chopped up all those veggies, I had too many for my pan and ended up making 2 batches. I had to make a second full batch of the sauce to make 2 pans, so you might want to adjust.
- Also, the sauce seemed too scanty when I spread it in the pan, barely enough to very thinly 'cover' the vegetables, but there must be a lot of moisture in the vegetables because the sauce was a perfect proportion for us when it was cooked.
- Lastly - I goofed, never having cooked Quinoa before. My box said 1 cup Quinoa to 2 cups water - the recipe said 1 cup cooked Quinoa - but really my Quinoa made 3 cups once it was cooked. Since I made 2 pans of this recipe, it worked out okay, but you might want to double-check your Quinoa directions and proportions.
- One more thing - the recipe as written in the grocery store ad says 4 servings - we got probably closer to 8 to 10 servings of this. However, for my family, this would not be a 'main dish', but rather a yummy veggie 'side' to go with some type of meat because we're utter carnivores.
- I hope you enjoy this as much as our family did! It has loads of good-for-you stuff in it, it looks pretty and colorful and tastes like a 'fancy' dish while being actually quite easy. It is also vegitarian and gluten-free, which is cool for those folks who need that stuff.
