Zucchini Noodle Lasagna
It’s zucchini season, which means you have too much of it. Here’s a suggestion: don’t put zucchini in your pasta dish, make zucchini your pasta dish. Thin strands can mimic tagliatelle, julienned ribbons are reminiscent of spaghetti. Sure, no discerning critic is really going to be fooled, but at a casual glance it can at least look deceptive, and zucchini’s mild flavor pairs strikingly well in almost all instances where pasta would be served; tossed lightly with olive oil, parmesan and herbs, or with a hearty tomato or cream sauce.
Since zucchini is so porous, it absorbs flavors very well. The downside to using zucchini in place of pasta is that it contains a lot of moisture, which can’t really be cooked out without turning it to mush and can dilute your sauces. Still, it’s a nutritious and versatile substitute that cooks up quickly. It worked quite happily in this low carb version of lasagna and yielded enough leftovers to last us through the week’s lunches.
- 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
- 4 slices of dry cure bacon or pancetta, diced
- 1 pound (450g) ground veal
- 1 pound (450g) ground beef or pork
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 5.5 ounces tomato paste
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1/2 cup to 1 cup water
- 1 large carrot
- 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- salt and sugar to taste
- 2 zucchinis, at least 9″ long, sliced into 1/4″ thick ribbons
- 200g frozen spinach, thawed and drained
- 250g whole milk ricotta
- 12 ounce (340g) ball of mozzarella, shredded
- Heat olive oil and bacon in a heavy bottomed sauce pan over medium heat and cook until the fat has rendered out. Remove the bacon and reserve.
- Brown the veal and beef or pork in batches, breaking up as it cooks, until it is no longer pink. Set aside with the bacon.
- Add the onion and sweat until translucent, then add the garlic, stirring for 30 seconds or so to prevent scorching. Add the wine and stir to remove any browned bits that may have stuck to the bottom of the pan and reduce by half.
- Combine the tomato paste, milk and water into the pot. Bring to a simmer, then re-add the meat with the carrot and red pepper flakes. Simmer the sauce for a minimum of one hour, then season to taste with salt and sugar, if necessary. Remove the carrot and eat (this is the “chef’s treat” to me!)
- Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
- To assemble the lasagna, take a 9×13″ pan and ladle a thin layer of your prepared sauce along the bottom. Top this with an even layer of your zucchini “noodles”. Ladle another layer of sauce and repeat with an additional layer of zucchini. Combine the spinach and ricotta and layer on top of the zucchini, then repeat with the remaining sauce and zucchini as necessary, finishing with sauce.
- Top the lasagna with shredded cheese and bake in the center of the oven until the cheese is golden and bubbly, about 20 minutes, at which time the zucchini should be just cooked through. Cool slightly before slicing and serving.
There is no need to precook the “noodles” in this recipe, which means the entire lasagna can be ready for the dinner table in less than half an hour with a prepared sauce. It also freezes and reheats well.
This is actually my kids’ new favorite lasagna recipe. Yes, they love zucchini now, lol! At first they don’t like the idea of veggies in lasagna (which is their favorite dish) but then I started them with spinach, and then zucchini. They love zucchini better than spinach lasagna(honestly I don’t know why, and I don’t complain either, lol!) They feel pretty proud about it, too, as if they’re eating vegetarian lasagna already, lol! Well, it’s a start I guess. :)
I seriously woke up this morning craving a piece of this. I’m sad I ate the last one yesterday for lunch.
Thank you for feeding me good things. xox
@Lasagna: I prefer spinach and cheese in a lasagna over meat. There’s just something about it. I’m happy that your kids are diggin’ the lasagna noodles. That’s a mighty fine collection of lasagna recipes you’ve got there!
@My Wife: I even ate the leftover sauce we had in that tupperware for lunch yesterday :o It was very tasty.