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A delicious twist on basic spaghetti: Baking it with spinach, sausage and cheese melds the flavors deliciously and creates a one-dish meal that’s almost as good as lasagna—without all the work. Use a smaller or larger amount of meat, as desired, or omit completely for a vegetarian version.

Serves: 8-12

Get Creative

This recipe is practically begs for innovation. Top the crust with other vegetables, like spinach or peppers. Include some fresh or dried herbs with the vegetable toppings. Add some chicken, turkey burger or sausage. Top the entire “pizza” with a range of condiments from cheese to sour cream to avocado or guacamole.

Obviously, kids can have some fun dressing up a pie–just assume the vegetable topping is a given, not one of the options–and you can rest assured they’ll get a healthful meal.

To give you an idea of just how creative you can be, here’s the topping combo that Daily Camera Food Editor Cindy Sutter identified as her personal favorite: “A runny egg, grated sharp cheddar cheese, homemade red chile sauce, grilled onion, chopped tomato and cilantro.” So take that as creative challenge!

Leftovers

While an exact repeat of this dish on a second night is perfectly delicious, you may need or want more variety. So make both crusts but only half the zucchini-onion topping. Top the second crust with one of the options described above, or just serve it plain, kind of like cornbread (e.g., with chili or soup.)

Ingredient Notes

1. Fresh Uncooked Corn Kernels Where do you buy these? Actually, they can’t be found at the store. Instead, buy 8 to 10 ears of corn and slice off the kernels: After shucking the corn, break or cut off the stem end to create a flat bottom. Stand corn on flat end on cutting board. Steady firmly with one hand on the tassel end and then, using a sturdy, sharp paring knife, slice off kernels with other hand. Cut from top to bottom of ear, skimming down where the kernels attach to cob.

2. Salsa My favorite store-bought salsa is Amy’s Black Bean and Corn Salsa. A little pricey, but well worth it. Of course if you can make your own or find a fresh-made salsa at your grocery store, that is another great option. Our Farmer’s Market has a couple vendors who make fresh salsas.

This dish is in a category of its own: fresh sweet corn is baked with eggs to make a thick, souffle-like crust. It is topped with caramelized onion and zucchini. Customize with cheese, sour cream, fresh herbs or other condiments, as desired. If fresh corn is not available, frozen will work. The recipe makes enough for two meals, which is a good thing since the leftovers are so good.
Ingredients	Instructions
7 cups fresh, uncooked corn kernels or frozen kernels, defrosted and drained of excess water (about 2½ 16-oz., bags) 1/3 cup olive oil 1 tsp. salt 1/3 cup cornmeal (finely ground, if available) 2 eggs	Prepare the Souffle Crusts Preheat oven to 350 (F). Combine everything in food processor and pulse several times to combine thoroughly, while still leaving a little texture, and even a few whole kernels. Lightly oil or butter two 9-inch pie dishes. Pour half of batter into each pan and spread to form an even layer, about 3/4” thick. Cover with aluminum foil and bake 50 minutes.
2 med. onions, sliced ¼” thick and 2” long 1 Tbsp. olive oil	Saute Onion In a large sauté pan, heat olive oil over medium heat until fairly hot (i.e., a piece of onion will sizzle when dropped in.) Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally until just begin to turn brown, about 10 minutes. Reduce heat to medium low and continue cooking onion, stirring occasionally, until very brown, tender and sweet. Remove to a large mixing bowl.
4 med. (6-8” zucchini, about 4 lbs.), sliced in half lengthwise, then cut into ¼” thick half moons 1½ Tbsp. olive oil, divided three ways	Saute Zucchini Pour a third of olive oil into pan and heat over medium high heat until fairly hot. Add a third of the zucchini and spread out evenly over saute pan. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Keep heat on medium high and allow zucchini to brown nicely (about 2-3 minutes) before turning with a spatula. Cook and turn like this until zucchini is browned on most sides. Remove to bowl with onions. Repeat process two more times with other two thirds of zucchini. When final third is done, return all zucchini and onions to pan and remove from heat. Stir gently to combine everything.
1-2 cups favorite salsa	Assemble and Serve When souffle crust is done, spread half of onion-zucchini mixture evenly over each crust. Return to oven and bake, uncovered, another 10 minutes to warm everything through. Remove from oven and, if possible, allow to rest 5-10 Cut in wedges, topped with salsa.

Fresh Corn Souffle

with Caramelized Onion and Zucchini Topping

Cut squash in half lengthwise, then lay the halves on their flat sides. .

Slice long halves into half moons, about ¼” thick. For a slightly different cut, hold knife at an angle rather than straight up down to get slightly more artistic half moons.

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