Pasta Free Lasagna
Serves- A lot!
I'm not going to lie to you, this is a pretty involved recipe that's why there is jarred marinara sauce!
Here is what you will need:
2 TBS olive oil
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
20 ounces white button mushrooms
15 ounces of bagged spinach
3 to 4 large zucchinis
6-8 basil leaves -chiffonade (roll them up together and thinly slice)
1 pound freshly shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
2 eggs
2 to 3 TBS fresh Italian parsley
2 cups whole milk ricotta cheese
1 cup cottage cheese
2 jars marinara sauce (24 ounce jars)
salt and pepper
Trim the zucchini at both ends and then thinly slice them lengthwise. Place them on paper towels to dry them out a bit.
Heat the oil in a big pan and slice up the mushrooms. (Medium high heat) Stir them often careful not to break them. Do not add salt.
While the mushrooms are cooking down grate your mozzarella.
When the mushrooms have cooked down, add in the garlic and stir for a minute.
Now add in your spinach, in batches. It will cook way down.
When the spinach is cooked down season with salt and pepper and turn off the heat.
Grate up you Parmesan and divide into two 1/2 cups.
In a medium bowl combine the ricotta, cottage cheese, basil, parsley,eggs, 1/2 cup of Parmesan and salt and pepper.
The reason my sauce is in a pot is because I used 1 jar of store bought sauce and one batch of a tomato-basil sauce I had in the freezer. So I had to thaw that out and combine it with my store bought sauce.
OK, now we are going to put it all together. Spray your 13 by 9 inch baking sheet lightly with an olive oil. Start with 1/3 of your spinach and mushrooms.
Spread a layer of sauce on top of the mushrooms/spinach, 1/3 of your sauce. Then layer 1/2 of your zucchini strips.
Top that with half of the egg-cheese mixture and spread it out evenly.
Top that with half of the mozzarella.
Then start all over. Mushrooms and spinach, then marinara, the rest of the zucchini strips, egg and cheese mixture then mozzarella.
You will top the dish with your final 1/3 of spinach and mushrooms, then the rest of your marinara and sprinkle your remaining 1/2 cup Parmesan on top. Put in a 350 oven for 40 minutes.
This is the hardest part because it smells so good you will want to dig in right away. You have to let it set for 30 to 40 minutes first!
Let's Eat!