Monday, July 14, 2014

Vegetarian Lasagna

Tom and I love this dish.  I have been playing with several different recipes and think I finally hit on the one that works best for us. It makes about four to six servings, so we have dinner and lunch out of it.

Ingredients:

1 small to medium spaghetti squash = roughly 3 cups of shredded spaghetti squash.

1 - 2 small to medium or medium to large zucchini = roughly 3 cups of shredded zucchini.

15 ounces of ricotta cheese. I buy organic.

2 cups of shredded mozzarella. I like to shred my own and buy organic.
You can also save some to sprinkle on top after cooking or during the last few minutes of cooking.

1 tsp to 1 TBsp of hotshot  or black pepper (We like it spicy, so I add more.)

You will need a baking dish that is 9 X 5 and about 2-3" deep.

Before putting this dish together you need to have prepared the following in advance:

Clean and bake one small to medium spaghetti squash.  After letting it cool, scrape out the insides and set aside to use in the lasagna.  To bake I cut mine in half, scrape out the seeds and then set cut side down on a wire rack over a cookie sheet with water in it.  After baking at 350° for roughly 30-45 minutes, until you can pierce the outside with a fork, I let it cool, cut side down, until I can easily pick it up and scrape the inside out. I then let it drain for a bit so that it is not too watery. It really works great if we have spaghetti the night before and I cook a large spaghetti squash and use the left over for lasagna. You need roughly 3 cups of shredded spaghetti squash.

I shred one to two small to medium or medium to large zucchini, and let it drain in a strainer for awhile.  I also pat it with paper towels to remove some of  moisture. (I am thinking I may bake it for a few minutes next time to see if I can get more water to drain before putting it in the lasagna. You need roughly 3 cups of shredded zucchini.

I also make my own sauce, another reason I like to have spaghetti the night before.  I will share my recipe in another  post, but you need roughly 2-3 cups of sauce.

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Directions:

Smear some sauce in the bottom of the dish, just enough to coat it lightly.

Sprinkle one third of the shredded zucchini in a layer in the bottom of the dish.

(Here you have a choice. I prefer to layer the spaghetti squash and then the ricotta, but you could do it in reverse.)

Sprinkle one third of the shredded spaghetti squash in a layer over the zucchini.

Using one third of the ricotta cheese dab it over the squash and then smear it around lightly so that it is pretty evenly layered.

Sprinkle some of the hot shot or black pepper on the ricotta cheese.

Sprinkle with one third of mozzarella cheese.

Layer one third of the sauce over this

Repeat twice.

Bake 45 minutes, sprinkling the saved mozzarella over the top during the last five minutes of cooking or after removing it from the oven. Let sit for 5 minutes before cutting and serving.

Because there are no noodles to absorb the excess liquid due to using squash, it is helpful to have bulb syringe to remove some of the excess juice before cutting and serving, if you do not have one you can use a spoon to remove some and then once cut and served, tip the plates slightly to let the excess liquid run off before serving.

The extras keep well over night in the refrigerator and make a great lunch when reheated the next day. We never have any left over for freezing so I am not sure how it does at freezing, but please let me know how it works out if you try freezing it and reheating.

Sorry there are no pictures but I forgot to take any when I made this a couple nights ago. I will try to remember to update with a picture next time I make it.

1 comment:

  1. sounds delish! and low carb without all that "real" spaghetti! :)

    p.s. great pix of you and your son!

    ReplyDelete

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