Italian Sausage Zucchini Involtini Recipe

You've likely heard the terms "al dente" and "aglio e olio" used frequently, but one essential Italian cooking term you may be less familiar with is involtini. Derived from the Italian term involto, meaning "wrapped," involtini refers to small bundles of meat or vegetables rolled around a flavorful filling. The dish takes many forms throughout Italy, including Sicilian preparations in which thin slices of meat are wrapped around savory fillings. It's a versatile term, and the possibilities for both fillings and wrappers are endless. For a more vegetable-forward approach, thin ribbons of eggplant or zucchini roll easily around fillings of cheese, herbs, and meat.

In this recipe, we make the most of bountiful summer gardens by wrapping long ribbons of zucchini around a fragrant filling of Italian sausage, fresh basil, and lemon-zested ricotta, then baking the bundles in a homemade pomodoro sauce. The savory Italian sausage and creamy ricotta bring a richness to the dish, while the zucchini, basil, lemon, and tomato add a brightness to every bite. A satisfying balance of hearty and fresh, this Italian sausage zucchini involtini is just as fitting for a nutritious weeknight meal as it is for a cozy Sunday supper.

For the pomodoro sauce, which you can make while preparing the zucchini bundles, you'll need a large can of whole, peeled tomatoes (preferably San Marzano), olive oil, garlic, salt, red pepper flakes, and basil. For the involtini, you'll need several zucchini — each ribbon is made by peeling the zucchini on either side until the pieces become too fragile to peel further, so you'll get about 10 ribbons per zucchini. For 16 bundles that use two ribbons each, you'll want to have about 32 ribbons, or three zucchini. From there, you just need ricotta, lemon, Italian sausage, and Parmesan to finish the filling and recipe.

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.

Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Add the tomatoes, crushing them by hand, then the salt, basil, and red pepper flakes, and stir. Bring to a simmer and cook for 25-30 minutes, until the tomatoes are thickened into a sauce.

Crush with the back of a spoon to smooth slightly into a sauce.

In the meantime, make the zucchini and filling. Preheat the oven to 400 F.

Thinly slice the zucchini lengthwise with a Y-shaped vegetable peeler.

Spread the slices onto a paper towel-lined sheet tray and sprinkle with about ½ teaspoon salt.

Let rest for 10 minutes, then blot dry.

Heat the remaining olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.

Add the sausage and crumble while browning, for about 5-8 minutes. Add the garlic and stir. Drain the excess fat from the sausage and let it cool slightly.

In a large bowl, combine the ricotta, lemon zest, lemon juice, ¼ cup Parmesan, and chopped basil.

Fold in the sausage, then season with ¼ teaspoon salt and pepper.

To assemble the involtini, first spread pomodoro sauce on the bottom of a casserole dish.

Lay two zucchini ribbons flat and slightly overlapping on a clean surface and add 1 heaping tablespoon of filling to the end.

Roll the zucchini snugly around the filling and place seam-side down into the casserole dish.

Repeat with the remaining zucchini and filling, adding each roll to the dish.

Cover with ½ cup grated Parmesan.

Bake for 18-20 minutes, until the cheese is melted and the sauce is bubbly.

Remove from the oven, let cool slightly, and top with fresh basil and grated Parmesan to serve.

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In developing this recipe, I tested a few ways to slice the zucchini, each with different thicknesses that made it easier or harder to roll. I tried using a mandoline slicer to make thin, sturdy slices, but this resulted in misshapen slices or worse, because the zucchini's surface was not flat. Next, I tried simply using a knife to slice the zucchini, but I had the opposite problem in that the slices were far too thick. Even with a light roasting, the slices would not roll into neat bundles. That's when I tested a simple peeling and salting method, which worked the best by far.

If you use a Y-shaped peeler, you can produce paper-thin slices, but you have to apply firm pressure while peeling in order to achieve slices thick enough to roll. Thin, short bursts with the peeler won't be enough surface to work with. Hold the peeler and run down the length of the zucchini firmly — if the slice is imperfect, it's fine, as long as the length and thickness is about that of a sheet of cardstock paper. Then, double the slices, overlapping slightly, so that the bundles are a sturdy thickness about the same as a dime.

Pomodoro is a great sauce to make when you have an abundance of fresh tomatoes, because you can make the sauce using fresh tomatoes without a blender or food processor; it just requires a few extra steps. Unlike canned tomatoes, which are already peeled, fresh tomatoes need to have their skins removed before you stew them. This is because the skins don't melt into the sauce, which means that the sauce will never become completely smooth and will have pieces of chewy tomato skin throughout. To avoid this, first score each tomato with a small "X" on the bottom.

Drop each scored tomato into a large pot of boiling water and blanch for 30 seconds to 1 minute. The tomatoes will brighten slightly and will look plump — once removed, the skins will begin to wrinkle and fall off. Prepare a large bowl of ice water and dunk each tomato into the water to stop it from further cooking, then let it cool till it's cool to the touch. From there, the skins should peel easily away from the tomato (though yes, it's still a messy ordeal). For the smoothest sauce, remove the seeds and pulp from the tomatoes as well before cooking.

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