Zucchini Lasagna

My family loves zucchini. We like it sautéed, fried, grilled – any way you cook it, we’ll eat it. When I came across an idea for zucchini lasagna, replacing the pasta in traditional lasagna with zucchini slices, I knew I had to try it. This recipe resulted in a fantastic dish that will definitely be made many times throughout the year.

Ingredients

1 lb ground beef

½ onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, crushed

30 oz (2-15 oz cans) crushed tomatoes

1 t basil

½ t salt

½ t pepper

3 – 4 zucchini

32 oz ricotta cheese

16 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded

¼ cup Parmesan cheese

1 egg

Additional mozzarella cheese for topping, if desired

Directions

Place beef, onion, and garlic in a saucepan set over medium high heat. Brown beef while cooking onion and garlic, stirring frequently. When beef is browned, add tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper. Reduce heat to low and simmer about 30 minutes.

While sauce is cooking, slice zucchini into approximately 1/8” slices. Place on a baking pan and sprinkle with salt (this will remove some of the water). Let sit for 10-15 minutes, then blot zucchini with paper towels to remove water.

When sauce is finished cooking (it should have thickened a bit), preheat oven to 350ºF. Mix cheeses and egg together in a bowl.

In a lasagna pan or 9×12” baking dish, place 3 T of sauce and spread around the bottom of the pan. Place ⅓ of zucchini slices over sauce and spread ⅓ of cheese mixture over the zucchini. Spoon ⅓ of sauce over cheese layer. Continue to layer in this order until ingredients are used up. If desired, sprinkle with additional mozzarella cheese.

Bake, covered, for 45 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 15 minutes so cheese can brown.