A delicious zucchini roll with cream cheese — a great idea for a summer appetizer! I already have several vegetable roll recipes on my site, such as Carrot Roll with Cream Cheese and Broccoli Roll with Creamy Filling. Today I'm adding this zucchini roll with cream cheese to the lineup — it makes a wonderful cold appetizer. For the zucchini base, I grated one zucchini and thinly sliced the second one to create a beautiful presentation. For the filling, I used a Philadelphia-style cream cheese, but a soft curd cheese works just as well. Regular cheese or processed cheese are also fine options — they'll taste great, just a little different. For a bit of a kick, I added garlic, spices, and fresh herbs — garlic is practically a must in this type of cheese filling. It's especially important in this recipe since zucchini is a fairly mild-tasting vegetable on its own. If you prefer, you can swap the cheese filling for a meat filling or sautéed mushrooms with onions. Zucchini is one of my favorite ingredients, and I have tons of recipes featuring it — a gorgeous Cheese Galette with Zucchini, a fun Zucchini Pizza, Zucchini Patties with Ground Meat, and much more. Zucchini truly is a versatile vegetable for all kinds of delicious dishes!
Ingredients:
- Crust:
- 2 zucchini (about 350 g each)
- 6 eggs
- 50 g flour
- salt, pepper
- Filling:
- 300 g cream cheese
- 2-3 tsp sour cream
- 2-3 cloves garlic
- fresh herbs to taste
- spices, salt, pepper
How to cook zucchini roll with cream cheese
Grate one zucchini on a fine grater and sprinkle with salt. For this zucchini roll, it's really best to use young zucchini with thin, tender skin.
Slice the second zucchini into very thin rounds, literally 1–1.5 mm thick. A mandoline slicer works best for this. From one zucchini weighing 350 grams, I ended up with 90 slices — yes, I counted them as I laid them on the crust! Sliced this thin, the zucchini will bake through properly and roll up without cracking.
The grated zucchini will release liquid — squeeze it out thoroughly. To do this, wrap the zucchini in cheesecloth, twist it up, and wring it out, or squeeze it in handfuls. Add the egg yolks, salt, and pepper to the squeezed zucchini and stir to combine. Add the flour and mix well.
Fold in the beaten egg whites in portions, being careful to keep the zucchini batter light and airy.
Arrange the zucchini slices on top in a fish-scale pattern. Bake in an oven preheated to 180°C (350°F) for 10–15 minutes.
While the crust is baking, prepare the filling. Mix the room-temperature cream cheese with the remaining ingredients. I used both dried and fresh herbs. Dill or any fresh herbs you like work great here. Add the sour cream a little at a time until the filling reaches the consistency you want. If you're using hard cheese or processed cheese, grate it finely first.
Spread the cream cheese filling evenly over the crust. If you like, you can add thin strips of tomato or bell pepper inside the roll.
Comments