This dish
is what it says on the tin – a lasagne but with no pasta! Instead of the sheets of pasta I used slices
of courgette (zucchini). This was a spur
of the moment invention when I realised that I had no lasagne sheets in the
pantry (having forgotten I had thrown them out thinking they had been there too
long).
It actually
worked out quite well. I may do it again
but would reduce the liquid content a bit since while pasta soaks up liquid,
zucchini actually does the opposite.
For the
cheese sauce I used a powdered packet sauce to which I added milk, sour cream,
grated cheese and nutmeg – I just cooked it lightly until it combined into a
sauce when stirred with a wooden spoon.
I sliced
enough courgettes to make 2 layers in the lasagne pan – and squeezed a bit of
lemon juice over them to stop them browning.
I tried to make the strips about twice the thickness that lasagne is.
As I was cutting them by hand the thicknesses varied a bit but that
didn't seem to cause a problem.
I then
diced up the end bits of the courgette to go into the meat sauce. I fried off ½ a finely diced carrot, 1/3 of a
finely diced red onion, a chopped red bell pepper (capsicum), some cloves to
garlic, a touch of chilli (obviously optional), some leftover cooked corn
kernels and the diced bits of zucchini.
I put it into a bowl while I browned the beef mince (ground beef) in
batches. It is a bit of a pain doing it
in batches but it does give you a better result.
Once all
the meat was browned I added back the vegetables, a can of chopped tomatoes
(would halve this next time), some tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, soy
sauce, a touch of dried rosemary and a splosh of wine.
Then you
just need to assemble the 'lasagne'.
About 1/3 of the meat sauce goes in first, then a layer of zucchini
strips then a layer of cheese sauce.
Then repeat once more. I finished
the top with a sprinkling of breadcrumbs (which you would obviously omit if you
were gluten free) and some knobs of butter.
I think all lasagnes are
better if you put them in the fridge for an hour or two before baking
them. But that's just my opinion.
I've eaten lasagna that used zucchini instead of noodles, but I've never baked it myself. Thanks for the tip about the liquid, I probably wouldn't have thought of that.
ReplyDeleteThis is clever - I think it's the kind of thing that if I TOLD my family that the pasta had been replaced by zucchini they would go YEUCH, but if I said nothing they would never notice.
ReplyDeleteI've replace lasagna noodles with eggplants before, but I haven't tried it with zucchini. Do you think if you salted, rinsed, and squeezed the zucchini prior to layering that it would release less water?
ReplyDeleteThat looks delicious - I can't believe there's no pasta in there!
ReplyDeleteI've had alternated to pasta before and zucchini is a good choice. I have used corn tortillas before and really liked that. Think slices of potatos should work as well. Thanks for all the details.
ReplyDeleteOh, that sounds really good!
ReplyDeleteCheck out this pasta alternative too http://www.frugalqueen.co.uk/2014/04/could-you-give-up-pasta.html
ReplyDeleteGreat ideas for gluten-free lasagne in your post and in the comments!
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting use of zucchini, I never would have thought of that.
ReplyDeleteThis is an excellent idea for my low-carb husband. I like that you used the ends of the zucchini in your mixture. Thanks for linking!
ReplyDeleteCarole, I would definitely like zucchini in place of noodles, just as I like eggplant in place of it. But, you're right, it does add moisture to the dish, so you have to compensate for that.
ReplyDelete