Summer Doesn't Come In A Can. And You May Quote Me.

I'm quite pleased with my garden this year. I love being able to walk in my yard and pick my lunch and dinner. Makes me feel very earthy and green.

That zucchini in the back left

is leftover from the zucchini bread I made yesterday.

Tomatoes. Assorted peppers. (I have the fixings for chili rellenos with those Anaheims.) Tomatillos. Squash. Zucchini.

I decided to make lasagna. Using zucchini instead of pasta.

It turned out a little soupy, but the flavor of the soup was fresh zucchini and herbs. I liked it. A lot. In fact, if I had a brain like Rachael Ray, I might even call this Soupsagna, but since I don't, thankfully, I won't. Actually, I'll go the Rache one better. I'm calling this SoupZukeSagna. Rosie's brain is a scary place.

I'd say there's about a quart of water coming to a boil. And bunches of tomatoes. I'm going to give the 'maters a nice boil to get the skins off

You know how Rosie loves her action shots.

I let these simmer for about 20 seconds.

Then I transferred them to a bowl to cool off. Fortuitously, Youngest Hawthorne came in at this exact moment, weak from lack of nourishment. While the tomatoes were cooling ...

I blackened two hot dogs in butter ...

Gave the buns a quick grill ...

Tucked the dogs in the buns ...

Gave 'em a little squeeze ...

Covered with grated cheese ...

And gave it a quick trip under the broiler.

I liked the cheese here.

Now that Youngest Hawthorne has been sustained, I turn back to my sauce for my SoupZukeSagna.

Peel the tomatoes.

I'm using a few peppers, an onion, garlic cloves, and the tomatoes for my sauce.

I minced the garlic, fine-chopped the pepper, and chopped the onion.

I added a little ELBOO (That's Extra Light Bertolli Olive Oil!) to my pan and dropped in the garlic ...

The onion ...

The peppers ...

And the tomatoes.

Bare-simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.

The ricotta in this SoupZukeSagna will be played by cream cheese, Mozzarella, and sour cream.

I used 8 oz. cream cheese, the whole ball of Mozzarella, and half (8 oz.) the carton of sour cream.

Mix well.

Mince a bunch of fresh basil leaves and add to the cheese mixture.

Freshly ground pepper.

After about 30 minutes I gave the sauce a good mashing .

Thinly slice the peeled zucchini into 1/4-inch slices. This is a perfect recipe for the more "mature" zucchini you occasionally find in your garden.

I put my first layer of zucchini slices in an oiled pan, gave it some freshly ground salt and pepper, and a drizzling of ELBOO. I'm doing a bit of Monday-morning-quarterbacking and I thinking I shouldn't have salted the zucchini since the salt would draw moisture out. Next time, I'll try salting the zucchini slices first to draw out the water, then blot the slices dry, and then use them in this dish.

Next I spread a layer of the cheeses on top.

Another layer of zuke slices.

Some fresh tomato sauce. I wish you could taste this sauce. This is what summer tastes like. There's nothing like a fresh tomato sauce.

Mozzarella.

Layer away.

Top with Mozzarella cheese. 350 degrees. 1 hour.

It has all the flavors of lasagna. But it tastes fresh. The zucchini is a wonderful substitute for the pasta. It presents a very nice texture and flavor nuance.

Ladies and gentlemen ... I present to you Rosie's SoupZukeSagna!

There's only one thing missing here. I should have baked one of those Schwann's baguettes to sop up all the soupy goodness.

Summer on a plate.