You ever just want a tray of something? For me, it’s Zucchini Lasanga. It’s perfect and summery, despite lasagna usually being something you’d eat on a cold winter’s day. I need it, I love it. and I can promise you this is THE recipe for it.
The zucchini. It’s probably my favorite vegetable, honestly. And with it being mid-summer (not to be confused with Midsommar), the zucchinis are HUGE and APLENTY. In fact, I had ordered Prime to get some zucchinis delivered for this recipe and got a bit overzealous. I ordered 7 zucchinis expecting them to be on the small side, and nope. They were MONSTERS. I pawned one off to my neighbor (she gave me Rose in exchange…what a peach). And I STILL have more zucchini. Maybe I’ll even make a mini lasagna out of what I have left!
Anyway, here it is. The must-have, summer dish that can feed an army, that will feel some melty and meaty, but is totally pasta-free, so you definitely can please that friend that is still somehow doing keto. But as if you couldn’t make it even more lighter than it already is being just a glorius noodle-less pie…I’ve made a lightened up turkey bolognese sauce that will rock you out of this world. This sauce really brings it together, so if you don’t use it in this recipe, I welcome you to try it on your favorite pasta!
Ingredients
For the bolognese sauce:
- 1 lb ground turkey
- 28 oz crushed tomatoes
- 2 carrots, diced
- 2 celery stalks, diced
- 1/2 yellow onion, diced
- 3-300 cloves of garlic…do you.
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 cup of water
- 1 tbsp fresh basil
- 1 tbsp fresh parsley
- salt, pepper, and a pinch of red pepper flakes
For the rest:
- 4-5 large zucchinis, thinly sliced
- 4 cups part-skim ricotta cheese
- 1 tbsp of basil
- 1 tbsp of parsley
- 4 tbsp egg whites
- 2 cups of part-skim mozzarella cheese, shredded
Directions
- Begin your sauce. I made this the day before and let the flavors melt together in the fridge overnight, but you can make this within an hour and let it simmer away.
- Add your garlic, onion, carrot, and celery to your pot and cook until soft.
- Once almost cooked through, add your ground turkey and break it up until nice and crumbly. Once cooked, add your tomato paste, tomatoes, spices, and herbs. Simmer on low for 1-3+ hours.
- Prepare your zucchini! Thinly slice them with a mandoline or knife…be very careful as it can get a bit challenging. Lay all of your slices on a paper towel and cover with salt. Let it sit for about 10-20 minutes or until they’ve drawn out a lot of moisture. Pat them dry, and set aside.
- Before assembling, add your herbs and egg whites to your ricotta in a separate bowl. This will give your cheesy layers some extra flavor and will layer on smoothly.
- ASSEMBLE!! I start with a layer of sauce, then zucchini, ricotta…sauce, zucchini, ricotta…etc. For my last layer, I just top the last layer of zucchini with sauce and cover generously with the shredded mozzarella.
- Bake in the oven at 375 for 1 hour and 30 minutes. Cover it with tinfoil for the first 45 minutes, and then remove tin foil for the last.
- Once brown and bubbly, remove your lasagna from the oven and set aside for up to 20 minutes.
- When you cut into your first slice, you may find some residual liquid from your zucchini. Mine were fulllllll of moisture this time, and once my lasagna cooled some more, I drained the liquid from the dish using a spoon and paper towels.
- Serve with parmesan cheese, parsley, and love.