This is an adaptation of something my mom fixed for me the last time we visited. I made a few simple changes to take it from a side dish to a main course. The end result: AWESOME!

When my mom made it, she sauteed some onions, garlic and zucchini together with some marinara sauce. She then put the filling into the middle of a sheet of puff pastry and baked it. (The puff pastry was made with shortening, btw, not butter so it was safe for Emma and I to eat.) When it baked up, the sides puffed up around the filling, thus the “zucchini pie” was born.

Matt is not a fan of anything fatty or buttery tasting. To reinvent this dish and to significantly lighten it up, I used sheets of filo dough. While I was constructing everything, I had the idea of folding sheets of puff pastry into small squares and making a sort of individual lasagna with the filling sandwiched in between. It worked out very well. Matt even commented that it looked like something we might be served at Millennium (a posh veg*n restaurant in SF).

Babs’ Zucchini Pie

(makes 2 pies with lots of leftover filling)

1 small onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

pinch of red pepper flakes

1 large zucchini, diced

1/4 fresh basil, roughly chopped

1 cup marinara sauce (or more depending on how saucy you like it)

1/4 cup toasted walnuts, roughly chopped

1 can cannelini beans, drained and rinsed

S&P to taste

4 sheets filo dough

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large skillet, saute the onions, garlic and red pepper flakes. After about 5 minutes, add the zucchini and saute for about another minute. Add in the rest of the ingredients except for the filo and remove from heat.

To construct the filo shell, take one sheet of filo dough and brush half of it with olive oil (go easy on the oil). Fold in half lengthwise. Repeat this process until you wind up with a very small rectangle or square (depends on what shape your filo was to begin with). Do this with all 4 sheets of filo.

To assemble, place one of your filo rectangles on the baking sheet. Top generously with filling. Press the second filo rectangle onto the top. Brush the top with a little bit of olive oil and sprinkle on a few walnut pieces. Repeat for the second pie. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown and crispy.

Special adaptation for the kiddos:

(Emma loved hers– she even commented “Mmmmm…. good!”)

Remove about 1/4 cup of the cooked onions and garlic (after sauteeing, but before adding anything else). Put into a food processor with a handful of the diced zucchini, a handful of beans and enough marinara sauce to thin it out. Puree until smooth.

I made her pie into a turnover so that all sides would be sealed together to prevent the filling from oozing out as she was eating it. To do this, take one sheet of filo and fold it as described above, but don’t fold it so small. After folding it two or three times, spread a layer of the filling inside, brush the edges with olive oil and seal them together. Bake as directed above.