Zucchini Lasagna

What do you do when you have more than a dozen zucchini and summer squash? Most people will respond, “make zucchini bread”. That is a good answer most of the time but what if you really don’t want to make baked goods and you really need to make something for dinner?

The solution zucchini lasagna. The idea behind zucchini lasagna is you make a layered casserole like lasagna but substitute zucchini for the noodles. You’ll quickly realized that you can’t do this with raw zucchini you get a big soupy mess. You have to cook the zucchini and squash first. I’ve found the best way to do this is to grill it.

Once you have the grilled veggies the technique of putting things together is pretty much the same as making a normal lasagna. Depending on how many veggies you have you may want to use a 9×9 pan rather than a 9×11 pan.

Layer the zucchini, sauce, then cheese (ricotta and mozzarella) until all the veggies are used. The thicker the tomato sauce you use the better. If you are a meat fan you can also add cooked crumbled ground beef or Italian sausage to the layers. But it need to be lean because unlike the pasta the zucchini/squash isn’t going to absorb grease. I chose to make a completely vegetarian version and serve Italian sausage separate. Last step is to bake at 375 degree until the cheese is well melted and the casserole bubbly. Final product is super yummy. So much so I forgot to snap a pic!