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.