Ingredients
- 1 large zucchini
- 1 Tbsp salt
- Olive oil, to drizzle
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup Panko bread crumbs
- A dash of Italian seasoning (optional)
- Pepper, to taste
- 4 small to medium-sized tomatoes
- 1/2 sweet onion
- 1 Tbsp fresh oregano
- 2 tsp fresh parsley
- 1 tsp fresh basil
- 1 small package fresh Mozzarella
Preparation
Step 1
1. After you have preheated the oven to 450°F, slice the zucchini into 1/4" rounds. Since my zucchini was so large, I only sliced half—and had 12 rounds.
2..Salt the zucchini rounds to get out any excess moisture. If your zucchini is very moist, you may want to let it sit in the salt for 20 minutes prior to preparing.
3. Add the Panko and Parmesan in a bowl and toss with your hands. I used both shredded and grated Parmesan to get a nice mixture of textures. Then, I added a dash of pepper and sodium-free Italian seasoning.
4. After brushing the zucchini rounds with olive oil, toss them in the Parmesan-Panko mixture. Once they're coated, top with the extra mixture and bake for 25 minutes.
5. While the zucchini crisps are baking, make the bruschetta topping. Dice the tomatoes and half of the onion. Place the ingredients in a bowl.
6. Chop up the parsley, basil, and oregano. Then add to the mixture.
*Tip for chopping oregano: Pluck or slide leaves off of the stem before chopping—the stems are very hard and not pleasant to chew.
*Note: If the mixture seems too watery from the tomato juices, use a flour sifter to strain the excess liquid. You don’t want it to be too wet or it will make your zucchini crisps soggy.
7. Now that the bruschetta topping is ready, it’s time to slice the fresh Mozzarella. I chose to use the cheese that rolls out into a sheet so that it Once those beautiful golden crisps come out of the oven they should look something like this…was easy to cut into thin slices (as not to overwhelm the dish).
8. Top the zucchini crisps with a spoonful of bruschetta and a slice of fresh Mozzarella. I like to put the Mozzarella on the top because it's not only out-of-this-world delicious, but it also helps hold all the tiny pieces of the bruschetta onto the crisp.
9. Finally, pop the crisps back into the oven so that the cheese melts, for approximately 5 minutes! ENJOY!