Zucchini and Tomatoes Baked with Fontina

My husband often will say to me, "I'll cook dinner tonight.  Just leave me a recipe and put all the ingredients out on the counter."  The irony of that to me is the fact that those two statements are what usually makes cooking difficult for most people.  Half the battle is figuring out what you want and if you have all the ingredients on hand to make it. 


I took a commercial cooking class "for fun" last year with the hopes of learning a few new tricks or recipes.  Thankfully I received both, though limited in number.  However, I am still missing something in my culinary desires.  A friend once asked me what I wanted most from a culinary education.  My reply was the ability to literally throw together a bunch of ingredients with the proper herbs and spices and have it be devine.  Don't get me wrong, I love looking through cookbooks, drooling over the pictures, and tagging pages that I want to try out.  But let's face it, cooking requires planning and sometimes we just don't have the time that we want to devote to it.  I'm getting better at throwing together an unplanned meal, but I'm not where I want to be yet. 


Which leads me to my next point: food pairing.  Does it really matter if you found the perfect recipe for baked halibut if you can't figure out the proper side dish to serve with it?  Food pairing is my second most difficult challange aside of an unplanned entree.  Cookbooks are often divided into sections: Appetizers, Soups, Salads, Fish, Poutry, Beef, Vegetarian, etc.  This is great for finding that entree but leaves you to your own devices to put together a meal.  Once in a while I find a cookbook that does a decent job at cross-referencing food, meaning that they will list appropriate side dish options with the recipes included in the same book.  I love that and wish more authors would consider that option.  That is what I really like about the food blog Dinner du Jour.  Recipes are presented as meals, sometimes even with a dessert pairing.


I worked backwards for today's Easy Everyday recipe. I selected a vegetable side dish and then racked my brain for an entree to accompany it.  This is another quick and easy summer recipe (are you detecting a theme in my posts yet?) and will be even more popular in my household as the garden bulks up its produce.  I paired this with a homemade reuben sandwich complete with rye bread, saurkraut, and thousand island dressing.  The corned beef cooked in the crock pot all afternoon so that dinner came together in less than 45 minutes at the end of the day.  This recipe originally calls for 3-4 tablespoons dried bread crumbs to be sprinkled on top before baking, but I personally never remember to do it and obviously I don't miss it too much.

Zucchini and Tomatoes Baked with Fontina
Adapted from Easy Everyday
Serves 6

6 medium zucchini
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tablespoons of good quality olive oil, plus extra for sprinkling
~30 cherry tomatoes, halved
8 oz. fontina cheese, sliced (you can substitute with any salty, melting cheese)
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
shallow ovenproof dish, greased


Preheat the oven to 325 °F.


Halve the zucchini lengthwise and trim a little off the uncut sides so that they will sit still like boats.  Using a teaspoon, scoop out the soft-seeded centers, but not too much.  Arrange the boats in a row in the prepared dish.


Put the garlic, olive oil, and some seasoning in a bowl, stir well, then brush over the cut surfaces of the zucchini. (I actually used a garlic-infused olive oil for this step)  Arrange the halved tomatoes in the grooves.  Season well, then drizzle with olive oil.  Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes or until the zucchini is soft when forked.


Remove from the oven and arrange the cheese over the zucchini and tomatoes.  Return the dish to the oven for another 10 minutes to melt the cheese.  Alternatively you could use a broiler setting to brown up the cheese, but be sure to keep your eye on it!  Serve immediately while the cheese is still bubbling.