Summer’s End Bake

I figured I’d take advantage of what’s going to be the last of the tomato supply around these parts (until next summer) by slow roasting them and tossing them together with an assortment of Italian-like odds ‘n ends I had lying around.

Ingredients

  • 1 lb hot Italian sausage
  • assortment of veggies (eggplant, onion, mushrooms, zucchini, etc.), chopped
  • 2 pints cherry tomatoes, halved
  • olive oil
  • s&p
  • fresh mozzarella or raw cheddar
  • fresh basil, chopped

Method

Preheat your oven to 300ºF. Line a sheet pan with a silpat, if you have one, or parchment paper (just to keep the little buggers from sticking). Place the halved tomatoes, cut side up (skin side down) on the sheet pan. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt & pepper. Place in the oven and let them cook down until the tomato edges are slightly crisp, curled up and the juicy insides no longer quite so juicy–about 20 minutes. Once the tomatoes are done, remove them from the oven and crank up the oven to 375ºF.

In a large saute pan, brown the sausage along with any other vegetables you’re using.

Now it’s time for assemblage. Get out an oven-safe baking dish, somewhere around 8×8, and start layering with the sausage/veggie mixture. Now add the oven roasted tomatoes, basil and cheese. Continue layering until everything’s all used up, trying to end with cheese and basil.

Stick in the oven and get the cheese melty and gooey, anywhere from 5-10 minutes.


Comments

11 responses to “Summer’s End Bake”

  1. That looks absolutely delicious! And a great idea to combine those ingredients. We just had a new butcher shop open up and this gives me some great ideas for my next trip. You’re always so creative. I’m bookmarking this recipe now and will have to try that next week. I’ll let you know how I do. 🙂

  2. SFC Brian Mahoney

    Just made this last night. Really, really good. I used a pound ( or a little more) hot Italian sausage, 1 eggplant,1 zucchini, 1 yellow squash,1 8oz package each button and shitaki mushrooms,1 pint grape tomatoes (couldn’t find cherry),6 cloves garlic, about 2-3 tbsp sun dried tomatoes chopped up, parsley and basil, oh, and one small sweet potato i had lying around the fridge. Baked the grape tomatoes, cooked the sausage, added all the veg except basil and parsley, cooked it down for about 15 minutes (it filled the pan to almost over flowing, but cooked down), layered it like you said with the cheese, baked it for another 15 minutes or so ( cheese was melted in about 5, but i wanted it to brown a little). I was afraid the veg would hide all the sausage, but after they cook down the ratio of meat and veg was about perfect. Used an 8×8 pan, had a little of the mix left over. All in all a great recipe.

    1. SFC brian, this sounds like it was delicious! i’m so happy to read you took this recipe and ran with it.

  3. Looks great! I love doing veggie/protein bakes like this. They never get old! They are so easy to make and then so easy to reheat and transport. WIN-WIN!

  4. Amy Roscoe

    Just made this since it already feels like summer here….delicious! Thanks for sharing!

  5. I read that the Paleo Diet was no dairy but I still need to go and by the book. Any comments?

    1. we prescribe mainly to a primal/marksdailyapple.com diet.

  6. SweetChristina

    Made this tonight for my fella and it was a hit!! Added garlic and red pepper flacks to the Italian sausage but that’s only because the hot Italian sausage at our market is too spicy for me! Loved the roasted tomatoes, I plan to make them more often to add to other dishes! We both love this site, thank you for sharing!!

    1. woohoo! thanks sweetchristina!

  7. This is really good and so dang easy. Love how the spiciness of the sausage flavors the veggies. Will be making this again!

  8. Just made this one for the first time tonight; SO good!

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