PHYLLO ZUCCHINI PIE

I made this dish for Mum's birthday, and it was gobbled up. Elegant, not too much work, and used some of the garden produce! Look to the end of this recipe for my variations...

Ingredients:

• 6 cups grated zucchini
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, divided
• 1 Tbsp. olive oil
• 3 cups grated carrots
• zest of one lemon
• juice of one lemon
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1 cup egg substitute, such as Egg Beaters
• 1/2 cup non-fat milk
• 3 oz. Neufchatel or low-fat cream cheese
• 1-1/2 cups part-skim ricotta cheese
• salt and pepper to taste
• 24 sheets of phyllo dough
• olive oil-flavored nonstick cooking spray
• 1/3 cup Panko (Japanese bread crumbs) or regular bread crumbs
• 6 oz. grated gruyere cheese

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Remove thawed phyllo dough from refrigerator, but do not open. Just leave out on the counter to come to room temperature. Spray a 9 x 13 pan with olive oil-flavored nonstick cooking spray.

Mix the zucchini and Parmesan cheese together in a colander. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside to drain.

Heat olive oil in a medium saute pan. Add the carrots and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Season with the lemon juice, lemon zest, ground ginger, salt and pepper. Set aside.

In a blender or food processor, combine egg substitute, milk, Neufchatel cheese, ricotta cheese and salt and pepper. Blend until smooth. Set aside.

Unwrap phyllo dough and remove one sheet. Place in prepared 9 x 13 pan. Spray the phyllo dough sheet with cooking spray. Top with another sheet of phyllo. Spray with cooking spray. Continue in this manner until you have layered eight sheets of phyllo dough. Cover remaining phyllo with the damp kitchen towel. Spread the zucchini and Parmesan cheese mixture on top of the phyllo dough.

Top with eight more sheets of phyllo dough, spraying with cooking spray between each layer, and covering the remaining phyllo with a damp kitchen towel. Spread the carrot mixture on top of this layer. Top with the Panko or bread crumbs. Top with the gruyere cheese. Pour the ricotta cheese mixture on top of this mixture. Top with the remaining eight sheets of phyllo, spraying with cooking spray between each layer and on top of the final layer.

Bake 75 to 90 minutes, until the top of the pie is golden brown. Allow to cool at least 15 minutes before serving.

Makes 12 servings.

Per serving: 340 calories, 16 g fat (8 g saturated), 38 mg cholesterol, 30 g carbohydrate, 2 g fiber, 20 g protein, 120% vitamin A, 26% vitamin C, 42% calcium, 14% iron

VARIATIONS: (what I did differently)

1. I had a box of phyllo dough with 20 sheets, so I divided up accordingly. Did not buy an extra box just to have 4 more sheets of dough.

2. I did not have gruyere (welcome to small town Dahlonega: "groo what??").

3. I used some cottage cheese in place of some of the ricotta.

4. Did not do bread crumbs.

5. Used some summer squash in place of some of the zucchini.

6. Used a real damn egg. What IS an egg beater really made of, anyway?

7. Note on the phyllo: I could have done a better job with the sheets, which certainly are fragile. At first I was peeling off each sheet, laying it in the casserole dish, and brushing with olive oil. (I did not want to use a gallon of cooking spray, as seems to be suggested by this recipe--the olive oil was better.) By the end of my prep, I started brushing on the olive oil BEFORE I peeled the sheet off the stack to lay on the casserole. This worked better because it ensured more even coating of each sheet on flat surface.

Bon appetit.