zucchini casserole

so this is rather belated, but i tried a recipe a few weeks ago that i'm finally getting around to documenting.  i had some zucchini lying around and wanted to do something with it.  my initial thought was to do something similar to the pork and aubergine casserole, but it turned into something a little different along the way.

 total prep/cook time is roughly 40 minutes, and there were maybe 4-5 servings.

ingredients:


- 18 oz mild italian sausage
- 1 large zucchini
- 24 oz jar of spicy tomato and basil sauce (i used a variety called "classico")
- bag of italian six cheese  blend.

preparation:
remove the sausage from the casing and brown over medium-high heat.  when mostly browned, add thinly sliced zucchini into the pan.  when tender, add the jar of sauce and simmer mixture for several minutes.

pour mixture into a baking dish and sprinkle the cheese evenly to the top.  cover with aluminum foil and bake at 350°F for about 25 minutes.  serve over rice (i used basmati).

verdict:
this was a strange dish.  there was a nice kick to it from the sausage and the spicy tomato sauce, but it wasn't overpowering.  served over rice as it was, it felt almost like an indian curry-type dish, but it was using italian flavors.  an odd combination.  overall, it was a little watery, and there wasn't any particular textural contrast to the dish.  if i could've gotten the cheese to crisp up a bit, that might've been a worthwhile addition.  possibly baking some cheese separately on a pan and adding it afterwards could work.  all told, though, the aubergine casserole was probably superior.