This morning I learned that today is National Zucchini Day. And, as it turns out, I have made three new zucchini dishes in the last day and a half! Not intentionally, but I love zucchini and the ones at the store were looking really good the last time I was there, so I stocked up. I know a lot of people are looking for zucchini recipes this time of year because their gardens are full of it. We didn’t plant zucchini, so store-bought has to do for us.
Well, I couldn’t decide which of the three zucchini recipes to share with you today. So I decided to put it to a vote! I posted pictures of all three dishes on my Facebook page and let my fans tell me which recipe they would like the most. A couple of people voted for the burger recipe, but the one-pot skillet was by far the winner. So here you go! This is an adaptation of a recipe I read in Everyday Food yesterday during lunch. Yes, it was lunchtime and I still wasn’t sure what were having for dinner. Jim brought in the mail and in it was my magazine. I started looking through it as I was eating and came upon this recipe, Summer Beef-and-Rice Casserole. I had to change it a little bit because it was part of a week-long menu and called for ingredients leftover from another meal. So I adapted it to work as a standalone dish. It turned out great!
One Pot Summer Squash, Beef, and Rice Skillet
Ingredients:
1 cup fresh soft breadcrumbs
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp olive oil
1 lb. ground beef
24 oz. jar marinara sauce
1 cup water
1 cup long-grain white rice, uncooked
1 small zucchini, very thinly sliced
1 small yellow squash, very thinly sliced
Salt
Directions:
Preheat oven to 475°. Combine breadcrumbs, Parmesan, and olive oil in a medium bowl. Set aside.
Brown ground beef in a large (12”) skillet with an oven-safe handle. Drain well and return to skillet. Stir in the marinara sauce and water and bring to a rapid simmer over high heat. Stir in rice.
Carefully arrange zucchini and yellow squash slices over the top, slightly overlapping each other. Season well with salt. Top with breadcrumb mixture.
Cover skillet with foil and bake in preheated oven 12 minutes. Remove foil and return to oven for another 10 minutes, or until top is golden brown and rice is cooked. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.
Makes 4-6 servings.
My favorite part was the zucchini topping. Mmm, so good! I love zucchini and yellow squash just by themselves, but then to add crispy Parmesan breadcrumbs on top? Oh my!
This was such a huge hit and so easy to make that I will definitely be making it again many times in the future.