Summer Vegetable Parmigiana

This time of year is all about zucchini, yellow squash, bell peppers, and eggplant exploding in gardens and farmers’ markets everywhere! There’s harmony in this Mediterranean marriage of vegetables, making them perfect together in so many ways.

My Summer Vegetable Parmigiana is all about that abundance and beauty!  Sort of like Eggplant Parmesan, sort of like Ratatouille, sort of like a lasagna, this casserole is the perfect way to use that summer bounty of vegetables.

This Summer Vegetable Parmigiana recipe is:

• Easy! Use your favorite jarred marinara sauce for convenience or use your homemade tomato sauce.
• Versatile! As with most savory Italian recipes, this one is very forgiving, and you don’t have to follow it exactly. For example, in this dish, if you have more zucchini than eggplant, it will work fine.
• Make ahead! This Summer Vegetable Parmigiana can be assembled one to two days ahead of time and baked later.

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions:

• The Vegetables: This is a classic Mediterranean marriage of vegetables: eggplant, yellow squash, zucchini, and bell peppers. As mentioned above, this Summer Vegetable Parmigiana is super versatile. You can use more zucchini than eggplant, different colors of bell peppers, add onion, etc.
• Marinara Sauce: If you want to make your own marinara for this dish, by all means, do it. Otherwise, a good-quality jarred marinara such as Rao’s will work fine.  I recently discovered Bertolli’s Olive Oil and Garlic Marinara and think it’s great for the price.
• Mozzarella Cheese: Use conventional low-moisture mozzarella that you shred yourself. This will help hold this vegetable casserole together; fresh mozzarella would create too much liquid.
• Parmesan Cheese: Can also use Asiago or Romano, but a parmigiana just needs parmesan cheese! Domestic is fine unless you want to invest in Parmigiano Reggiano. If you want to make this vegetarian, use a rennet-free parmesan cheese.
• Panko: Panko, also called Japanese breadcrumbs, has a coarse texture that works very well as a topping for casseroles. Look for it in the baking aisle or near the seafood. Coarsely ground crispy rice cereal makes a great panko substitute.

Step-By-Step Instructions:

• Gather and prep all the ingredients.
• Preheat a grill or grill pan to medium-high.
• Lightly brush vegetables with 1/4 cup olive oil. Place vegetables on the grill and reduce heat to medium.
• Cook the vegetables until nicely marked and slightly softened, except for eggplant. Cook eggplant until easily pierced with a knife. (Alternatively, roast the vegetables at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.)

• Place zucchini over the sauce to cover the bottom, then top with 1/3 cup of the marinara and sprinkle with approximately 1/2 cup of the Mozzarella, a sprinkling of Parmesan, and a few leaves of torn basil.
• IMPORTANT: The sauce, cheese, and basil layer should be repeated after each layer of vegetables. Because it’s the same layer over and over, I didn’t photograph it each time I added it to the vegetable parmigiana.

• Cut the strips of the red and yellow bell pepper in half widthwise.
• Arrange the yellow bell pepper over the sauce and cheese.
• Top with 1/3 cup sauce, 1/2 cup mozzarella, and a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese.
• Repeat with the eggplant, the red bell pepper, and then the yellow squash, adding a layer of sauce, cheese, and basil between each layer of casserole.