Zucchini Lasagna

*adapted from Wholesome Home Cooking: Lancaster County Recipes

We LOVE this one. A veggie-filled version of a classic favorite.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb ground beef

• 1 onion, diced

• 2 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 pint pizza or spaghetti sauce

• 1 lb cottage or ricotta cheese

• 3 eggs

• 2 medium or 1 large zucchini, sliced 1/4" thick

• sea salt & ground black pepper

• fresh herbs, such as parsley & basil, chopped

• olive oil

• freshly grated mozzarella & parmesan cheese, for topping

• optional extra veggies: mushrooms, peppers, etc. finely chopped

Method:

Slice zucchini 1/4" thick, in long wide sheets, to use as noodles. Lay them out on a tray and sprinkle with sea salt on both sides. Leave to "sweat" for about 30 minutes while you prepare the sauce & cheese mixtures.

Heat olive oil in a medium to large saute pan. Add onion and cook for 2-3 minutes, until translucent. Add garlic and cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Add any additional veggies desired, such as finely chopped peppers, mushrooms, etc. and saute until tender. If using extra veggies, remove from pan into bowl at this point, and brown beef in pan. If not using extra veggies, simply add beef to garlic & onion and brown in pan, crumbling and stirring.

When beef is done, stir in sauce, and add veggies back in if using. Set aside.

In bowl, mix cottage or ricotta cheese with eggs and fresh herbs. Stir well. Set aside.

After zucchini is done sweating (about 30 minutes) you are ready to assemble lasagna. I like to take a clean towel and press the zucchini "noodles" into it, to remove the excess moisture.

In a 9 x 13 pan, spread 1/3 of the beef sauce. Next layer 1/3 of the zucchini noodles. Top with half of the herbed cottage cheese mixture. Then add 1/3 of the beef sauce and another layer of zucchini noodles, followed by the remainder of the cottage cheese mixture. Finish with a final layer of zucchini noodles and the remaining beef sauce. If you run out of beef sauce here, you can just top with extra jarred spaghetti sauce.

Bake at 350 for 50 minutes, or 400 for 35 minutes. Remove from oven and top casserole with freshly grated mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Place back in oven for 5-10 minutes to melt cheese.

Remove from oven and let sit for 10 minutes to set up. Then cut and serve!