This zucchini and bacon slice is delicious served warm with a salad for a light supper but it is also perfect for picnics served at room temperature. It can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge or freezer. It holds together well to transport and can be eaten with the fingers for fuss free alfresco meals.
We decided to catch up with friends for the afternoon at a shady beachside park in Redlands and I wanted to come up with something that would be easy to eat, delicious and reasonably filling to base our lunch around.
This zucchini and bacon slice is packed with flavour and goodness, veges and herbs fresh from garden and some great quality smoky bacon that I’ve recently discovered at a local butcher.
I almost gave up on bacon for a while, I do know how crazy that sounds but after several packets that were bland, watery and refused to crisp up no matter what I did I was getting frustrated. It’s has been surprisingly difficult to buy Australian, let alone local bacon so I was thrilled to discover that it is available, smoked full of flavour and renders perfectly.
Table of Contents
Making the zucchini and bacon slice
This quiche style slice is packed full of flavours; smoky, salty bacon, garden fresh herbs and a trio of cheeses.
Cook off the onion, garlic and bacon first to allow them time to cool before adding to the batter. It will take around 5 minutes in a hot pan to render the fat in the bacon bringing out the flavour and making it crispy and to add a little colour to the vegetables. Don’t rush this step, that bit of brown in the pan will elevate the finished dish.
Beat the eggs and incorporate the flour and baking soda before adding in the zucchini, cheeses and other ingredients.
This recipe keeps well in the fridge for a few days or seperate the slices with wax paper, wrap tightly and freeze.
Making substitutions
This is a great base recipe that can easily be adjusted based on what you have on hand, use ham or finely chopped left over bbq chicken in place of the bacon or go with the vegetarian option and remove the bacon altogether.
If you don’t have fresh chives you could easily substitute another herb you have growing such as thyme or rosemary. Finely chopped tops of green onions would be another option or a dried herb such as oregano or basil but you will only want 1-2 teaspoons if using the dried option.
Zucchini are also called courgettes in some parts of the world, I used 3 medium sized ones here, when they get really large they are usually called marrows, I’d avoid using them for this at that stage as the texture changes and they can be too watery. If your zucchini are small add in an extra one, hidden veges are always a good thing.
Zucchini and bacon slice
This delicious slice serves equally well warm from the oven or at room temperature for a picnic or alfresco lunch.
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 3 rashers middle bacon (chopped)
- 1 onion (finely chopped)
- 2 cloves garlic (crushed)
- 6 eggs
- 1 cup flour
- 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
- 3 medium zucchini (grated)
- 1/4 garlic chives (chopped)
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan
- 200 grams feta (crumbled)
- 200 grams ricotta
- ground black pepper and salt (to taste)
Instructions
1. Heat oven to 180 Celcius.
2. Fry onion, garlic and bacon in the olive oil until cooked through and golden, about 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.
3. Beat eggs with a fork until well mixed then add the sifted flour and baking powder and mix to combine into a batter.
4. Grate zucchini and add to the egg mixture together with the chives, parmesan, ricotta and feta. Season with salt and pepper and mix to combine.
5. Add the cooled bacon, onion and garlic and mix through.
6. Thoroughly grease a 20 -30 cm slice tin then and pour in the batter smoothing off with a spatula.
7. Bake for 40-45 minutes until set and golden.
8. Cut into 8 even pieces and use a fish slice to gently remove from the pan, serve immediately or cool on a rack to enjoy cold.
Notes
- Using a slice tin with higher sides (around 2 cm) such as a brownie or lamington pan.
- You can use baking paper to line your tin for easy removal and clean up but the slice may not crust quite so well on the base if you do. If using baking paper I recommend getting it onto a rack as soon as possible after removing it from the oven.
- The slice will remove cleanly from the tin while warm but if you allow it a few minutes to rest and set slightly it will be easier to get those nice clean edges
Nutrition Information
Yield 8 Serving Size 1Amount Per ServingCalories 299Total Fat 17gSaturated Fat 8gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 8gCholesterol 181mgSodium 676mgCarbohydrates 19gFiber 1gSugar 3gProtein 18g
I'm neither a nutritionist nor a mathematician so I use a service to calculate this nutrition information. Please use it as a guide only.
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