Zucchini Lasagna: Guest writer Janis

"Oh my word.  I made the zucchini lasagna that you had on Pinterest.  Yummy!  BTW Steve grilled the zucchini slices the night before and i layered them on paper towels and covered the dish with plastic wrap and let them sit in the refrigerator over night and then assembled the lasagna this morning before meeting.  It was a huge hit.  We had Darin and Jean over (she is gluten free) and we all loved it.  She suggested that we slice them and freeze them and when they thaw they will get rid of the extra liquid.  Slicing and grilling the slices takes a bit of time.  We went ahead and had Steve cook up brats while he grilled the zucchini so that we would have supper made last night too.  I can't wait to eat the left overs tomorrow." 

Text contributed by Janis

Photos contributed by Bonda because Janis' camera isn't working.  We made this for dinner the night Monika arrived and took the needed photos to go with Janis' text. Two of Dave's co-worker's came for dinner one of which is doing the Paleo diet.  This works for that diet.  We all agreed it tasted great and we will repeat it when we have lots of time.

We knew it would be necessary to pre-grill the zucchini because the afternoon would be spent meeting Monika's plane an hour away.   One thing we forgot until too late was that once assembled the lasagna still needs to bake for an hour.  So it ended up being a very late dinner.  Oops!

Anyway, in the morning I did these steps to grill the zucchini slices.

 This mandolin slicer works like a charm.  I had purchased a very fancy, expensive one but decided it was too much work.  This works just fine.

  

 First the zucchini slices were placed on the Silpain.  This is the Demarle product that lets air through.  Great for Traeger grilling.  It is also ideal for pizza.

 After 10 minutes on high (Traeger grill)  it looked just right.

 Crisscrossed in a glass dish with lid and put in the fridge to wait for the evening.  No need to soak up moisture with this method of grilling.  You may need to experiment as Janis wrote about with other grilling methods.

In the evening we stopped by the store to pick up hamburger after meeting the plane.  This was not quite the right recipe for the length and fullness of the day.  But it's what the plan was so we went with it.

 Here are the first two layers.

 Third layer ready to add.

 Grated mozzarella in food processor and then added as one of the layers below.

 More layering and almost ready to go in the oven.  Unfortunately it is now 7:15 and when I read down the recipe a little more found it will be one hour or more until we eat.  My dear husband informed me we needed to order in Pizza or something.  Well it would take an hour to get pizza too so we might as well relax about it.  So we worked through ideas on appetizers and came up with an artichoke dip, carrot sticks and chips to tide everyone over which was an acceptable alternative.

 Baking is finished...finally!  Ready to eat at 8:30 P.M.

So I have a regret again...I didn't take photos of the people we enjoyed this meal with.  When will I learn to take more photos?



Zucchini Lasagna 

• 1 lb ground beef
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/2 onion
• 1 tsp olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh basil
• 3 medium zucchini, sliced 1/8" thick
• 15 oz part-skim ricotta
• 16 oz part-skin mozzarella cheese, shredded (Sargento)
• 1/4 cup Parmigiano Reggiano
• 1 large egg

Brown meat and season with salt; remove grease. Add olive oil to the pan and saute garlic and onions about 2 minutes. Return the meat to the pan, add tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper. Simmer on low for at least 30-40 minutes covered.  Do not add extra water, the sauce should be thick.

Meanwhile, slice zucchini into 1/8" thick slices, add lightly salt and set aside or 10 minutes. Zucchini has a lot of water when cooked, salting it takes out a lot of moisture. After 10 minutes, blot excess moisture with a paper towel.

On a gas grill or grill pan, grill zucchini on each side, until cooked, about 1-2 minutes per side. Place on paper towels to soak any excess moisture.Preheat oven to 350°.In a medium bowl mix ricotta cheese, parmesan cheese and egg. Stir well. In a 9x12 casserole spread some sauce on the bottom and layer the zucchini to cover. Then place some of the ricotta cheese mixture, then top with the mozzarella cheese and repeat the process until all your ingredients are used up. Top with sauce and mozzarella and cover with foil.

Bake 45 minutes covered at 375°, then uncovered 15 minutes. Let stand about 5 - 10 minutes before serving.

The zucchini lasagna was accompanied by a large pile of asparagus.  This was done stove top in a 12 inch skillet.  Butter and sea salt were the other ingredients.  Simple and quick.  Except I was side tracked with visiting and just about forgot about it.  That would have been the final straw, but just at the right moment I remembered I had this going and rescued it.  Whew!  I bet no one else has this much chaos in the kitchen.