Nov 17, 2010 by Ben
So I had this ginormous zucchini from my garden and I had to do something with it, so I set for to create a zucchini lasagna. Its the kind where you use the zucchini as the noodles, so less carbs + awesome zucchini = tasty tasty goodness. Well I had no idea just how amazing this would turn out to be. I’m not sure if its the fresh veggies from the garden, or just a bit of luck, but this recipe is an all time new favorite.
Here’s what you’ll need to get started:
Ingredients:
- 1 very large zucchini, or around 3 pounds of smaller zucchini
- 3-4 medium size tomatoes (I used a bunch of smaller ones from the garden)
- 1 onion
- Fresh basil leaves
- 2 Tablespoons fresh parsley
- 30 oz tomato sauce
- 12 oz tomato paste
- Some bread to make some bred crumbs
- Cheeses:
- Ricotta – 1 pound
- Parmesan – 1 Cup
- Mozzarella – 1 pound
- dried oregano, basil, parsley
- 4 eggs
- Ground Turkey (optional, You can leave it out if you want to go veggie all the way)
First up you need to make some bread crumbs
Its so easy to make bread crumbs vs buying in the store. Throw a few pieces of bread into the food processor.
Throw in some dried oregano, basil and parsley flakes. I used about 1/2 – 1 teaspoon each.
Pulse it all together until you get this awesome looking and smelling mix. Set it aside.
You can also put the extra in a bag or container and save in the fridge for a long time.
Now to slicing the zucchini. Here’s where i realized that my ginormous zucchini was rock hard and was NOT going to work for this recipe. It was at this point that it was dark outside and I had changed into comfy clothes and did NOT want to go out and go to the store.
Take 2! So after a trip to the store and some new fresh zucchini later, we are ready to rock.
Using the fancy schmancy mandolin slicer, you will get these very pretty strips of zucchini.
Set those aside for a minute.
Time to make a mixture of goodness. Combine 1 cup of the bread crumbs in a bowl.
add 1 cup of Ricotta cheese
1/2 Teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 Teaspoon dried basil
Chop up 2 Tablespoons of fresh parsley and throw that in the bowl
throw in 4 eggs
finally add 1 Cup of Parmesan cheese and mix it all up
This mixture of goodness looks and smells amazing. Set this aside, and lets make the sauce.
I think the fresh basil is the key here. Add about 10 or so leaves to the food processor
throw in your tomatoes
And an onion and mix
You’ll have an amazing chunky sauce at this point
Next throw in the tomato paste and the tomato sauce and mix it all up. Set this aside and lets start building the lasagna.
Boil the zucchini slices for 5 minutes or less and let dry on a paper towel.
If you are adding the turkey, go ahead and brown it now. I added a dash of some Italian seasoning to this as it browned.
Go ahead and grate up your mozzarella now as well. Side note, the Salad Shooter
is awesome for this job.
Go ahead and start preheating the oven to 350 now.
OK in a big 9×13 pan, lay down a layer of your awesome sauce
Sprinkle over bread crumbs
Add your first layer of zucchini
Spread over about half the mixture of the goodness you made earlier
And add half the mozzarella cheese
Add the turkey meat if you are using it
Add the second layer of zucchini and more sauce
More breadcrumbs and the rest of the goodness mixture
Finish it off with the rest of the mozzarella cheese
And I added a bit of Parmesan flakes on top as well for good measure
Throw it in the oven at 350 for 40 minutes to 1 hour. You want the cheese to be all nice and melty and golden brown.
Like this
Almost a little too golden, but its all good.
Nope I take that back, its so much better than good. It is truly amazing. I was shocked at how great this tasted. Sometimes my recipes don’t always turn out, but WOW did this one work and work really well.
I can’t recommend this one enough. Its so nice to have some warm lasagna on a nice cool evening.
You really should try this one soon.
Ben…
If you try this recipe let me know how it turned out. I think you will love it.
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