It is so easy to make oven roasted zucchini:
1. Preheat oven to 400°F
2. Choose a zucchini(s) of small to medium size, that is still firm all the way through. That is, that has not developed the seeds and surrounding pith in the center.
3. Wash it. Cut off the ends.
4. Then, dice it into fairly uniform pieces. I like bite size pieces, so aim for roughly half inch thick, but about one inch at the most in other directions. You can deduce from this that I do not try to make it into little perfect squares. Estimated uniformity has worked well for me, so far. So, my zucchini pieces are generally pie shaped.
5. Toss the pieces in a bowl with olive oil, making sure they are well coated. I, personally, would rather have “too much” than not enough oil.
6. Sprinkle liberally with kosher salt. Probably any sort of salt will do, but the larger flakes of the kosher salt seem to satisfy my taste buds better. Garlic powder or additional vegetables are optional. You would want to make sure the other vegetables also got coated in oil and sprinkled with salt.
7. Spread the oil-coated zucchini pieces on a half-sheet baking pan, or inside some pan of appropriate size so that they are in a single layer.
8. Place in the oven for about 10-12 minutes, take pan out and either turn it or stir the pieces around a bit, then put it back in the over for another 10-12 minutes, or until just slightly softened and browning. If you want them to brown faster, turn the over hotter and watch the cooking time.
9. Test with a fork for doneness. When I cooked mine about 22 minutes they were still firm enough to feel like I was biting into something, but not crunchy. If you want to taste one for doneness, be careful. Zucchini is high water content and stays hot inside for a long time!
It doesn’t get much easier than this. It takes less time than potatoes, doesn’t need any other sauces or flavors to make it yummy, and is takes very little labor. It is much easier for me to avoid over cooking using this method, too. And it doesn’t involve the bar-b-q, which habitually tries to blow up on me. Have zucchini, will roast.
