Zucchini Veggie Lasagna

• Servings: 8
• Time: 2 hours
• Difficulty: medium
• Print

We had friends visiting and one of them (along with myself) has some strict dietary issues. This lasagna is dairy-free, gluten-free, sugar-free, garlic-free, and still tastes amazing! It was also kid approved – they all asked for seconds. It took quite a bit of time to put together, but the effort was worth it. You can also see from the pictures that it dished out nicely, kept its layers, and didn't run liquid all over the plate. (That's the quinoa trick! See Note 2)

Ingredients

Lasagna

• 3 med – lrg yams, cubed small
• 3 zucchini squash, sliced lengthwise on a mandolin
• Himalayan pink salt and fresh cracked pepper
• 2 lrg packages pre-sliced fresh mushrooms (you can buy whole and slice them if you want, but I had enough work ahead of me already…)
• 1 796ml/28oz can of diced tomatoes
• 1 796ml/28oz can of crushed tomatoes
• 1 large yellow onion
• 2 tomatoes worth of fire roasted tomatoes (recipe here)
• ¼ 210ml jar of sun-dried tomatoes in oil (using dried, about 1/4 c would also work)
• 1 tbsp each of sage, thyme, rosemary, oregano
• 6 tbsp quinoa, uncooked, well rinsed
• 1 package dairy-free cheese (I did section the lasagna to use regular mozza for those who eat dairy, and dairy-free for those who don’t, so this is at your option.)

“Ricotta”

• 1 540oz can of white kidney beans
• Juice of ½ of one lemon
• 1/3 c raw cashes
• 1 can of premium coconut cream (see Note)

Note: original recipe for “ricotta” is from my friend, Harry Logan, however instead of coconut cream he used 4 cloves of roasted garlic. As I couldn’t use garlic in this lasagna, I opted to experiment with something completely different, coconut. It worked out well, however, I imagine the roasted garlic version would also be fantastic, and I intend to try it next time.

Directions

Make the Sauce:

1. Chop the onion and add to 1 tbsp of olive oil in a Dutch Oven pot, over med-high heat.
2. Add sage, thyme, rosemary, oregano, mix well with onion (I would normally have added garlic at this stage also.)
3. Add fire-roasted tomatoes and sundried tomatoes. Stir well.
4. Add one can each of diced and crushed tomatoes. Add some water to each, swirl around to “clean” the can and add the water to the sauce pot.
5. Lower heat and allow to simmer.

 

Make the Layers:

6. Preheat oven to 375 dgsF. Chop yam, put in a large bowl, swirl a ring of olive oil over the yams and sprinkle with salt and fresh cracked pepper. Stir to coat and spread in a single layer on greased baking sheet and bake for 45 mins.
7. Using a cooking brush, brush olive oil over zucchini, both sides and lay in a single layer on another baking sheet. If you have racks, you can place them on top to add space for an additional layer. Toss in oven with yams.
8. While yams and zucchini are baking, coarsely chop mushrooms into slightly smaller pieces. Fry in pan on stove over medium high heat in olive oil until they are cooked through, they will shrink slightly, but don’t let them cook too long. About 10 minutes or so. Depending on the size of your pan, or how many mushrooms you may need to cook in batches.

 

Make the “Ricotta”

9. In a high-speed blender add white kidney beans, cashews, lemon, coconut cream (or roasted garlic) and blend until smooth.

 

Build the Lasagna

10. Remove yams and zucchini when done. Leave oven on at 375 dgsF.
11. Oil an 11×16 pan (I used two 9×13 pans, but found the ingredients to be a bit of a stretch), then spread one scoop of tomato sauce across bottom of pan.
12. Place slices of zucchini. (I left some space between the slices.
13. Layer yams, spread evenly across pan.
14. Layer tomato sauce.
15. Sprinkle 2 tbsp of quinoa across sauce.
16. Layer zucchini.
17. Layer “ricotta.”
18. Layer mushrooms.
19. Layer tomato sauce.
20. Sprinkle 2 tbsp of quinoa across sauce.
21. Layer zucchini.
22. Layer cheese. Portion some for non-dairy and some for mozza if you are using.
23. Place in oven for about 30 mins, until non-dairy is melted and mozza is starting to brown. Remove from oven and let rest for 10 mins.
24. Serve and enjoy!


Note 2: The sprinkling of quinoa is to help absorb moisture as a veggie lasagna tends to be quite watery. This trick works great for absorbing liquid, but you also won’t notice the quinoa while eating the lasagna.