Monday 25 October 2021

The No-Lasagne Lasagne - And Sans Tomato!

Regular readers may remember that I'm not a huge fan of pasta or tomatoes.  I always snigger when I watch TV cooks stating that EVERYONE loves pasta.  Nope, not me.  As I've undoubtedly said before, yes I eat both pasta and tomatoes when necessary but only when it's necessary - like when your sister-in-law's sister-in-law feeds it to you for dinner :-)

Since Mr P. and I are being careful with our fats and carbs these days, I decided to make the no-lasagne/no tomato lasagne.  Even hubby who looooves pasta and loves tomato sauce enjoyed this version.  The sauce is uncooked so it has a freshness and vibrancy which I really like.  I don't like that stewed taste and texture of long-simmered tomato sauce.  Uuuurrgghhh ...  Sorry, all you tomato fans!


ready to start layering


Serves 3-4:

ingredients:

For the sauce:

1/2 red onion, chopped roughly

2 x 330g./12 oz jars of whole roasted capsicums/red peppers, drained - but reserve the liquid

1-2 tsp garlic granules or 2 garlic cloves

a handful of herbs of your choice, roughly chopped - parsley and chives for me

2-3 tbs tomato paste (yep, I did use the paste)

1/3-1/2 cup of the drained liquid from the capsicums

several (or lots) dashes of Tabasco sauce (Mr P. insisted on heaps)

1 tsp shichimi togarashi (optional)

1 tsp Umami Black (optional) - see notes

salt and pepper, to taste - maybe 1/2-1 tsp salt and 10 grinds of the  pepper mill

1 tsp EV olive oil


For the "lasagne":


3 zucchini (about 500g./18 oz), very thinly sliced into ribbons

200g./7 oz mushrooms, sliced thinly

200g./7 oz tin of tuna (tuna again :-)? Yep)  - optional

250g./9 oz tub of cottage cheese or ricotta 

120-150g./4-5 oz parmesan, grated

3-4 tbs panko breadcrumbs


Method:

First make your sauce; you can make it in the morning or even the day before so the flavours can meld together

Put the chopped onion into your food processor/blender and zap a few times, then throw in the rest of the sauce ingredients and blitz/pulse till you have a lovely smooth(ish) sauce - you will end up with about 500 mL/17 oz of sauce

When you're ready, grab yourself a medium-sized baking dish or rectangular casserole dish (I used an enamel baking dish) and smear 2-3 tablespoons of the sauce over the bottom

Then start layering: 

Place a layer of zucchini then mushrooms over the sauce

Next add a layer of cottage cheese, Parmesan and more sauce

And continue: more zucchini and mushrooms, then the tuna and cottage cheese, some Parmesan and more sauce

Finish up with zucchini, sauce, cottage cheese if any left, and Parmesan

Add the salt, pepper and panko over the top

Bake at 185C/365F for about 50-60 minutes till golden on top

Allow to rest for 5-10 minutes, and serve with a salad if you fancy


Notes:

Mr P. sliced the zucchinis into thin slivers of about 3mm (that's an eighth of an inch)

What's a handful of herbs?  Maybe 1/2 to 1 cup, more or less

What is Umami Black?  It comes from an Aussie company MBK for Life, (not an ad!) and is made up of dried kelp and black garlic.  Very good for your liver apparently


gather the sauce ingredients

into the processor

blitzed!

ready to layer

grate that cheese and grab that jar of tuna

layering commences :-)

keep layering

more sauce

on goes the tuna

ready for the oven at 185C

ready for eating


I told some friends I made lasagne without pasta.  They looked at me agog and askance.  Then I told 'em Mr P. kindly sliced up the zukes at 2.5mm/0.1 inch, and they were even more agogly (made this word up!) amazed.  Well, Mr P. is a building designer so measurements are his thing, my dears.  So of course he did a perfect job!




artwork © Sherry M.


54 comments:

  1. This is a great low carb version of lasagne with lots of veggies (though my stomach can't handle too much nightshade veggies these days) and cheese :-)) Umami Black sounds so intriguing and I need to get some to try!

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    1. hi angie
      do you react to the nightshade veg? what a shame. they are some of my faves. yes the umami black is good stuff. i put it in everything.

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  2. This made me smile. Rick loves pasta so much more than I do. I suppose it makes sense with his cycling but I could do with a lot less! This is an interesting sounding recipe!

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  3. Love how you've used those perfectly sliced zukes in place of the lasagna noodles! A very flavorful dish indeed!

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  4. Using eggplant or zucchini or potato slices (or mixture thereof) is something I do more often than using the lasagne pasta which is bad for carbs. And the basis for moussaka and eggplant parmigiana. But I do like tomatoes. If you don’t like a simmer sauce, you can just grab a can of crushed tomatoes which gives a fresher taste.

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    1. Oh yes potato would be good too. but no to the canned tomatoes. my point is i don't like tomatoes :)

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  5. I do like pasta, but I'm also a fan of using zucchini in dishes like this. Haven't heard of Umami Black -- sounds intriguing. And I like your sauce -- sounds quite good. Fun dish -- thanks.

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  6. This is an interesting take on lasagne. I don't do grains and have used zucchini instead of pasta, so I might have to give this a try.

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    1. thanks anne. so no grains? no rice even? i do like my rice:)

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  7. I'm definitely up for trying out a no lasagne lasagne Sherry. And one without tomato too! This looks absolutely delicious! I'm always looking for ways to reduce our calorie and carb intakes. Thanks!

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    1. thanks much Neil. i hope you try it and enjoy it. We really liked the lightness of it.

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  8. Crazy! And also wonderful! I could even do without the tuna and make it completely vegetarian!

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    1. thanks mimi. yes indeed leave out the tuna for a vego dish.

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  9. What a fun idea! I've seen (and made) eggplant lasagna, but zucchini is new to me. I can see how it would work well though! I also chuckled when I saw the title of this post. I was like, "Lasagna? But Sherry doesn't like tomatoes!" :-)

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    1. you are so right david. tomatoes and me are not friends:)

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  10. This weekend I had pasta on the menu but some of us (we were six people) don’t like heavily tomato based sauce. Your recipe would have been a great idea. My solution was two bowls of pasta: a green one and a red one. The green one was broccoli, ready-made vegan pesto, and little tube pasta: tubetti. The red one was classic mushroom and lots of tomato sauce, also vegan. Everyone was happy, in fact I think they all had some of each. But way more work.

    I hope you are fully recovered! best… mae at maefood.blogspot.com

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    1. thanks mae. i'm still in the wars with one thing after another. my body is just having a meltdown lately. i might be better by christmas :) I love broccoli!

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  11. I think zucchini slices substituted for pasta works well. I have done it and liked it.

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  12. I love no lasagna noodles lasagna. Just made some for dinner last night with eggplant. Yours look look lovely!

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  13. I rarely make lasagne not because I don't like it but because I'm too lazy to make a white sauce so this recipe is right up my alley! It's a genius and healthy twist on the classic recipe - looks so delish!

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  14. Looks tasty! Haha I do love pasta but I know a lot of people that don't eat it because they don't eat carbs. You can also replace the pasta layer with grilled eggplant or zucchini :)

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  15. If not liking pasta and tomato sauce leads you to something like this, I say bring it on! I happen to be a huge tuna fan.

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    1. yep me too. love tuna! and salmon and barramundi ...

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  16. Nice combination of flavours, I love all of that mushroom in this recipe

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  17. I love pasta and lasagne but too lazy to cook just for myself. Hubby is not a fan of both.

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  18. I am definitely bookmarking this recipe. It looks delicious and everyone, including me, could use some help cutting down. on carbs.

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  19. While I might not call It a classic lasagne, it does look fabulous! Go veggies!

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  20. While I wouldn’t call it a classic lasagna, it looks fabulous! Go veggies!

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  21. Sherry, this sounds like a fantastic revision of lasagna. I dare say it could replace the lasagna recipe in many cooks' recipe boxes.

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    1. yes it is nice and light. I find pasta so heavy.

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  22. Sherry, this sounds wonnnnderful! I'm not surprised that you added a little tomato paste, despite your not being a tomato fan. It's amazing how a judicious dab of tomato paste adds so much to a dish without making it at all tomato-y. Love your vegetable art.

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  23. Sherry! This sounds amazing! I bet the flavors are wonderful- great idea for a lasagna.

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  24. That’s a funny story and a great recipe. I have a vegetarian moussaka to share with you, it’s a similar premise. I sliced the zucchini so very thin as Mr P did.

    https://tinaculbertson.blogspot.com/2016/09/vegetarian-moussaka.html?m=1

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  25. A very clever recipe Sherry, and very healthy. we're trying to cut down on carbs too. This looks ideal. Love the fish addition.

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    1. thanks pauline. yes the fish was a good addition to this...

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  26. This looks delicious and so inventive! I am also very pleased to find someone else who is not a devotee of pasta. Thanks for this one Sherry.

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    1. good to know i am not alone in my anti pasta stance :-)

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