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My first lasagna

So lasagna is like that rare homemade treat that I just love but no one ever makes me, I now know why...they are a pain in the ass.  Fantastic none the less.  Since I began researching Paleo recipes I had noticed the use of zucchini in place of pasta, notably in lasagna.  I actually love zucchini, probably my fav veggie other tomatoes.  So I had been dying to make one.  Low and behold, guess what arrives in our veggie box.  4 zucchini.  Opportunity.  Minor problem.  Ive never made a lasagna in my life.  Thank goodness for Google.  I knew the things I liked in my lasagna, some things I wanted to try.  So I searched away and the best recipe I found was this one by The Pioneer Woman.  I had found much fancier ones but thats not really what I was looking for.  And all the paleo ones take out cheese.  Lets be honest, your waisting your time with a lasagna that doesn't have cheese.  Life just isn't worth living without dairy.  So it was easier to mod a regular recipe.  I probably would have followed her recipe a little closer if I had gotten a hold of it before I had bought most of my ingredients.  I actually made it twice now so its still a work in progress.  So the ways I changed her recipe:

  • I used diced tomatoes.  I actually tried the whole tomatoes the first time and ended up squishing them with the spoon.  
  • I only used one can of tomato paste
  • The first time I added onion to the meat sauce, second I didn't.  I prefer it with the onion (and Im not an onion eater)
  • The first time I had tons of fresh basil for the meat sauce, that was definitely way better
  • Im completely impatient and didn't cook the meat sauce for 45 minutes
  • I used zucchini instead of pasta.  The first time I cut it by hand.  That was a tad scary so I invested in a mandoline slicer.  Genius!  And has caused the likelihood of an ER trip to drop to like 25%, completely worth the $40
  • I used Ricotta not cottage cheese, I think its the only way to go if its really lasagna.  The first time I had way too much, second not enough.  Of course I don't remember sizes, Ill have to go back and figure that out. (bad blogger I know).  
  • I used the fancier parmesan that you get near the deli
  • I used shredded mozzarella.  The slices actually seems like a way better idea.  Though I didn't remember that when I was shopping the second time and bought the shredded stuff on round 2.
  • I mixed all the cheese stuff up and then added about half a bag of frozen spinach
  • I added a container for fresh mushrooms and half a bag for frozen broccoli which I sliced into smaller chunks
So the first time I made this, I had way too much stuffing.  I actually ended up with another 9x9 pan of randomness.  I don't quite remember the order I put stuff in the first one but the second one was way more organized.  Zucchini layer with over lapping slices, meat, mushrooms, broccoli, ricotta layer, mozzarella, zucchini (by now Im flush with the top of the pan and am using the zucchini to squish it down, but it didn't work), meat, ricotta and mozzarella.  It was actually quite pretty and I was pretty impressed with myself.  



The only problem with this one is it was really juicy.  I expected it the first time, but it didn't happen so I assumed I misjudged the amount of water in the veggies.  Though I think the first time I cooked it longer and the juices cooked out, I also was able to let it set longer.  Sunday I was impatient.  I cooked it long enough for the cheese to barely crisp and then cut it about 2 minutes later.  I was starving.  Either way both turned out fantastic and Im am shockingly impressed with myself.
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