Ritti's vegetarian zucchini casserole

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 250 g pasta, e.g. fusilli
• 2 large zucchini
• 2 carrots
• 1 small bell pepper(s), yellow
• 1 spring onion(s)
• 1 small onion(s) or shallot
• 1 clove(s) garlic
• 70 g tomato paste
• 500 g tomatoes, chopped
• 200 g crème fraîche
• 100 g sour cream
• 1 shot of milk
• 1 handful of Edam cheese, grated
• salt and pepper
• nutmeg
• Sugar
• Paprika powder, sweet
• olive oil
• white wine vinegar
• basil
• oregano

Instructions

Working time approx. 40 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 20 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour

hearty – even without meat

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, peel the carrots and dice them into small cubes. Peel the zucchini too – cut one into small cubes, and use a vegetable peeler to slice the other into very thin strips down to the heart. Thinly slice the heart with a knife. Peel the garlic clove. Cut the onion/shallot and bell pepper into small cubes/rings. Pre-cook the pasta in salted water for about 5 minutes, until it is still very firm to the bite. Then drain the pasta in a sieve. Reserve a small cup of the pasta water and return both to the pot. While the pasta is cooking, place a large frying pan on the stove and heat over medium heat. Add some coarsely ground pepper to the pan and fry briefly. Add a good splash of olive oil to the pan and heat. Now add the onion/shallot to the pan along with the carrots and sauté briefly. Sprinkle half a teaspoon of sugar over the top and continue to fry everything. Add a splash of white wine vinegar to the pan and mix everything together. Then add the tomato paste and the squeezed garlic clove and roast everything together. Preheat the oven to 180°C (top/bottom heat). Add the zucchini cubes, the sliced ​​spring onion, and the bell pepper to the pan with a splash of olive oil, season with salt, and continue to fry. After a short time, add the tomatoes and let everything continue to simmer. Place the crème fraîche and sour cream in a bowl. Mix with a splash of milk and season with salt, finely ground pepper, nutmeg, and paprika. Season the vegetables to taste and remove from the heat. Fill a medium-sized casserole dish alternately with the following: – Vegetable mixture – Pasta – Crème fraîche mixture – Zucchini strips (spread evenly). If necessary, compact everything slightly with a ladle. Finish with the thin zucchini slices from the center, spread evenly. Cover these with the grated Edam cheese. Place the casserole dish in the upper third of the oven and bake for about 20 minutes. Turn on the broiler function for the last 5 minutes. The casserole is ready when the cheese is golden brown.