Zucchini Rolls with Ricotta, Dill and Parmesan

Zucchini rolls stuffed with ricotta, parmesan, and dill and then baked in delicious garlic-infused tomato sauce dotted with gooey mozzarella. Served hot out of the oven with some fresh basil. Such a delicious and light summer dish! In fact, it tastes like the essence of summer in a bowl!

A friend of mine was in town the other day visiting Calgary, so I took her on a few tours of some of my favorite spots, including the Saskatoon Berry Farm and the Avenida Food Hall. I was inspired by the beautiful market produce and brought home a pile of amazing garden-fresh veggies.

I love this time of year when the harvest is plentiful. It’s also likely a time when if you do have a garden, you are trying to use up all your produce. I know that zucchini (as it grows so plentiful) is likely one that is in abundance. This is a wonderful and delicious way to use it up.

My husband typically frowns at me if I tell him that we are eating a vegetarian dish for supper. As for me, I’m sure I could eat veggies for supper anytime, but he tends to think that he needs meat with every meal. Although after he devoured THREE full plates of these he told me he didn’t even miss the meat!

I’ve seasoned the cheese stuffing for these zucchini rolls with dill, which is likely in abundance as well in the garden right now. I love fresh dill and truly feel it is underused and deserves a little more attention. It goes so beautifully with a tomato sauce and is wonderful in this dish.

Don’t be alarmed at the amount of garlic in the tomato sauce. This is one of my favorite simple tomato sauces and the preparation method really mellows out the garlic taste. Trust me, it’s really good. A great simple sauce that is great on pasta a stand-alone or even as a pizza base.

You will require a mandoline to slice the zucchini. If you don’t have one, you can pick up some very inexpensive ones at most stores. They are a great addition to have in the kitchen. I’m always very careful when using mine as they are very sharp and can be dangerous if you are not cautious, so be careful while using it.

Ricotta Parmesan & Dill Zucchini Involtini:

First, you will want to make your tomato sauce. Slice your garlic very thin. You will want a nice heavy-bottomed pan that you can transfer to the oven. Heat your pan and add in a very generous coating of olive oil. Add in your sliced garlic and hot pepper flakes and let cook for a minute or two, stirring until fragrant. Now at this point ensure that you have an apron on or stand back as this will splatter. Add your tomatoes to the mixture. Stir, turn down the heat a little and let simmer for about 20 minutes. Season with a little salt and set aside.

In a bowl, mix together your ricotta, parmesan, and fresh dill. Season with a little salt and pepper.

Carefully slice your zucchini lengthwise as thin as you can with your mandoline.

Lay two zucchini slices as shown below to overlap a little and put a good healthy tbsp or so of your cheese mixture near the one end.

Carefully roll the zucchini with the cheese mixture. Repeat until all the cheese mixture is used up.

Place your zucchini rolls into the tomato mixture and scatter a little cubed mozzarella throughout.

Bake in a 375F oven for about 30 minutes.

 

Let sit for a few minutes before serving.

We served ours with some fresh garden greens tossed in just simple lemon juice and olive oil. Some crusty bread for mopping up the beautiful sauce would be a great idea too.

Try making this Rosemary Focaccia  – it would be a great accompaniment to these!