What do you do if you have a lot of zucchini in the refrigerator and have been craving lasagne, but are on a certain kind of diet that restricts pasta and such carbs? You get creative! And you whip up the worlds' best
Lasagne di Zucchini ever.
I am sorry folks, this isn't an
Authentic Italian recipe, handed down through the generations for hundreds of years. But if I do say so myself, I have a pretty good idea of what makes lasagne great (especially after learning my Italian mom in law's recipe) and all the flavor you could ever want is in this recipe.
Ingredients:
One can or jar of tomato sauce (can be spaghetti sauce)
about a pound of ground meat of your choice: turkey, beef, pork- you name it.
about a cup and 1/2 of shredded cheese (mozarella is great but I used what I had- a mixture of colby and jack)
about a cup of parmesan or pecorino to be grated for the top layer
five or six medium zucchini
an onion
granulated or fresh garlic
salt
nutmeg
sage
If I were making a traditional lasagne I would also make a besciamella sauce, but I'm not, so I won 't. :)
Ready to cook up some jaw-dropping good faux lasagne?
Okay then. Let's get to it.
Slice your zucchini lengthwise, like so:
Take your gorgeous green zucchini slices and fry 'em up in a pan- using olive oil on moderate heat. It is very important to cook some of the water that is naturally in the zucchini slices, or else the lasagne will be soggy.
Keep frying batches until they are all done. Meanwhile slice and dice your onion:
After all your zucchini has nice little golden edges, remove from pan. Add the onion (you may need to add a little more olive oil) and saute over moderate heat in the same frying pan used for the zucchini. Saute until the onions are slightly golden on edges and becoming mostly translucent.
Add to the onions once they are just right, your ground meat (turkey, beef, pork- whatever you fancy). For the vegetarians out there, you could add tofu, or tempeh or any other ground meat substitute.
When the meat is no longer pink and all juices are clear add the spices:
First a whisper of salt:
a sprinkle of sage:
a generous shake of nutmeg:
as much garlic as you like:
and finally the tomato sauce:
Mix everything well, and then it is time to ladle some into the casserole dish, like so:
Spread mixture:
Now the fun starts! Layer on the zucchini strips -
the faux lasagne pasta.
Now sprinkle on some cheese:
Continue making layers of meat-tomato sauce then zucchini and cheese until all zucchini is gone.
Whooooooee! Look at all that zucchini.
Grate up some parmesan or pecorino cheese for the topping.
I love cheese! Don't you just love cheese?
Lay it on the zucchini, baby!
Cover casserole dish with foil and place in a preheated oven at 350 F for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes remove foil and leave casserole in oven for 20 more minutes. When it's done, it should look bubbly and delicious like this:
I know it's good. My toddler says so. Not only did he have fun flinging the faux lasagne,
but he also managed to get some in his mouth.
Yum. Buon Appetito!
