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If anybody has an obscene amount of time and wants delicious and vegetable-laden "lasagna," then I have the recipe for you! It involves a great deal of chopping and some careful knife-work to craft "noodles" out of zucchini by slicing them into long, 1/4 in. thick strips. I think a mandolin slicer would have been invaluable to reduce prep-time. It ended up being more casserole-like since the zucchini cooks down, too, but very yummy.
MARINARA:
[NOTE: I ended up making my own (below) and the recipe I used ended up taking quite awhile to cook down. The flavor was great, but I might not do this step in the future and just use a store-prepared sauce for vegetarian lasagna.]
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 med. yellow onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, finely diced
15-20 Kalamata olives, pitted and pureed in a food processor
4 large fresh tomatoes, deseeded and cut into eighths
2 14-oz cans plums tomatoes, drained
2 Tbsp. fresh basil, finely chopped
Salt & pepper to taste
Directions: Heat olive oil in a large pot. Add onion, garlic, and chili and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add olives and fresh tomatoes and cook it a couple of minutes more before adding the rest of the ingredients. Cook for 10 minutes, lower the heat and let it simmer for half an hour more under a lid. Puree the mixture in a food processor or blender.
ROASTED VEGETABLES:
5 large zucchini, sliced into long, 1/4 in. thick strips as "noodles"
1 eggplant, peeled chopped into 1/4 in. cubes
1 yellow squash, thinly sliced
1 package button mushrooms, sliced
1 bunch fresh kale, roughly chopped
Sprinkle all with a bit of kosher salt
Directions: I grilled the veggies in a grill pan with a bit of olive oil for about 10 minutes to reduce the water in the veggies and make cooking time reasonable. You want the veggies softened but not goopy as they will continue to cook in pan. I did the zucchini separately and set it aside, and then did all the rest of the veggies together and threw them in a bowl together.
LEMON RICOTTA:
500 g. (roughly 2 c.) ricotta
1 lemon, zested and juice
1 egg
1/2 c. mozzarella cheese
1 tsp. kosher salt
Directions: Zest and juice lemon into the ricotta. Mix in other ingredients.
ASSEMBLY DIRECTIONS:
1) Put a light layer of sauce in the bottom of a greased 9X13 baking pan.
2) Line the pan with zucchini strips. Cover in more sauce.
3) Layer on roasted veggies until the pan is about 1/2-2/3 full (mine only ended up having one layer each of veggies and ricotta)
4) Schmear on ricotta layer
5) Place another layer of zucchini strips. Pour more sauce on top and cover in mozzarella and parmesan cheese.
6) Bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Turn on broiler and cook for another 3-4 minutes to get cheese brown and bubbling.
7) Serve warm. It doesn't slice really well, so I just took a big serving spoon and globbed out big servings. Yum!
MARINARA:
[NOTE: I ended up making my own (below) and the recipe I used ended up taking quite awhile to cook down. The flavor was great, but I might not do this step in the future and just use a store-prepared sauce for vegetarian lasagna.]
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1 med. yellow onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, finely diced
15-20 Kalamata olives, pitted and pureed in a food processor
4 large fresh tomatoes, deseeded and cut into eighths
2 14-oz cans plums tomatoes, drained
2 Tbsp. fresh basil, finely chopped
Salt & pepper to taste
Directions: Heat olive oil in a large pot. Add onion, garlic, and chili and saute for 2-3 minutes. Add olives and fresh tomatoes and cook it a couple of minutes more before adding the rest of the ingredients. Cook for 10 minutes, lower the heat and let it simmer for half an hour more under a lid. Puree the mixture in a food processor or blender.
ROASTED VEGETABLES:
5 large zucchini, sliced into long, 1/4 in. thick strips as "noodles"
1 eggplant, peeled chopped into 1/4 in. cubes
1 yellow squash, thinly sliced
1 package button mushrooms, sliced
1 bunch fresh kale, roughly chopped
Sprinkle all with a bit of kosher salt
Directions: I grilled the veggies in a grill pan with a bit of olive oil for about 10 minutes to reduce the water in the veggies and make cooking time reasonable. You want the veggies softened but not goopy as they will continue to cook in pan. I did the zucchini separately and set it aside, and then did all the rest of the veggies together and threw them in a bowl together.
LEMON RICOTTA:
500 g. (roughly 2 c.) ricotta
1 lemon, zested and juice
1 egg
1/2 c. mozzarella cheese
1 tsp. kosher salt
Directions: Zest and juice lemon into the ricotta. Mix in other ingredients.
ASSEMBLY DIRECTIONS:
1) Put a light layer of sauce in the bottom of a greased 9X13 baking pan.
2) Line the pan with zucchini strips. Cover in more sauce.
3) Layer on roasted veggies until the pan is about 1/2-2/3 full (mine only ended up having one layer each of veggies and ricotta)
4) Schmear on ricotta layer
5) Place another layer of zucchini strips. Pour more sauce on top and cover in mozzarella and parmesan cheese.
6) Bake at 350 for 40 minutes. Turn on broiler and cook for another 3-4 minutes to get cheese brown and bubbling.
7) Serve warm. It doesn't slice really well, so I just took a big serving spoon and globbed out big servings. Yum!
I saw it on one recipe I looked at, and thought it was an interesting idea. I'm sure it would work great well with conventional lasagna noodles.
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