Eating more vegetables and less meat, as well as enjoying good food, is what I am looking for in my day to day diet. So I am always trying to find new original recipes with vegetables, that are easy to make even for people who do not like vegetables so much. There are many classics of Italian food that can easily be converted into a vegetarian dish, such as a vegetable bolognese sauce, aubergine or courgette lasagne, etc. A large range of creamy Italian cheese helps a lot because they can easily be mixed together and spread a delicious taste to any dish. It has also become very fashionable to “spiralize” the vegetables, using a special mandolin which grates vegetables in long strings and make them look like spaghettis. Then you cook them with your favourite Italian sauce and they taste deliciously!
I discovered the no pasta courgette lasagne on White on rice couple’s blog, in a courgette lasagne recipe made with tomato sauce and 4 different Italian cheeses, including ricotta which is my favourite. Using this mix of cheese, enhanced with fresh parsley ,works perfectly because it brings out the flavour of the vegetables. This recipe is a perfect base that can be adapted in many different ways according to your taste, and this is how I created my own recipe.
As for any kind of courgette gratin, a special attention needs to be paid to the preparation of the tomato sauce and the courgettes because they tend to reject a lot of water during cooking, so I had to make several attempts in order to minimize this effect. There are 2 important tricks to make the courgette lasagne a success, which I explain below.
Tricks:
- Prepare a thick tomato sauce, using a large can of whole peeled tomatoes which you empty of its juice before mixing the tomatoes.
- If you have the time, it worth cooking the courgette slices before assembling the lasagne, in order to remove the water that they naturally hold. I usually grill them on a Spanish pan called flattop grill, or “plancha”in Spanish. It is a technique of cooking using a hotplate which allows you to cook the ingredients over a very high temperature, evenly, quickly and without oil. Grilled vegetables and meat “a la plancha” are a very common dish in Catalonia. You can either use a non-stick pan if you don’t have a flattop grill. It is important to cook the slices of courgette without oil in order to dry them. If you don’t have time, you can also prepare this lasagne with raw courgettes, knowing that you will have water to the bottom of the dish.
Following these 2 tricks your courgette lasagne will be prefect.
Also:
- Prefer fresh parsley for the seasoning of the cheese mixture because it tastes stronger once the lasagne is cooked.
- Prepare the courgettes while the tomato sauce is cooking to save time.
- Cut the courgette into thin vertical slices of the same thickness, using a mandolin or a large knife.
I like it because:
- I make a tasty tomato sauce with chilli to give a touch of spice to the lasagne. I also use Worcestershire Sauce instead of the vinegar to enhance the flavour of the ingredients.
- You can use a Bologna sauce instead of tomato sauce for a change, aubergines instead of courgettes, or even a mix of both etc.
Ingredients for a 11 in. tray (4 people):
Tomato sauce
- 1 onion
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 carrot (optional)
- Olive oil
- 1 large can of whole peeled tomatoes
- 1 tblsp tomato paste
- 1 dried chilli pepper
- 1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce or balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp brown or white sugar
- 1 tsp dry thyme
- 1 tsp dry rosemary
- salt, pepper, ground coriander seeds, …
lasagne
- 2 large courgettes
- 9 oz (250g) ricotta cheese
- 1 US cup (100g) parmesan cheese
- 1 egg
- 1/2 bunch fresh parsley
- 1 US cup (100g) grated cheese comté, cheddar or emmental type
No pasta courgette lasagne recipe
- Start with tomato sauce:
- Chop the onion and garlic cloves together, then the carrot separately.
- Pour a little bit of olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the onion and garlic bits, and fry them a few minutes until the onion is transparent.
- Incorporate the carrot pieces and cook for 5 minutes. In the meantime, open the can of tomatoes and remove the liquid from inside. Throw the drained tomatoes in a high container and crush them with a hand mixer. Chop the chilli pepper.
- Incorporate the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, chopped chilli pepper, the Worcestershire sauce, sugar, thyme, rosemary and seasoning in the saucepan, and mix together.
- Heat the sauce over low heat until it becomes thick, for around 15 minutes or so.
- Chop the onion and garlic cloves together, then the carrot separately.
- While the sauce is cooking, preheat oven to 400ºF (200ºC).
- Cut the courgettes into thin vertical slices with a mandolin or a large knife. Heat the flattop grill (plancha in Spanish) over high heat, and cook the slices of courgettes 3-4 minutes on each side, with no oil to make sure they dry well. Make it in several batches if necessary, until all the courgettes are grilled, and put them aside.
- Mix together the ricotta, parmesan cheese, egg, chopped parsley and black pepper in a bowl.
No pasta spicy courgette lasagne
- Grate the cheddar or comté cheese in another separate bowl.
All the ingredients are ready to prepare the lasagne, making 3 layers of each component.
- Pour 1/3 of the tomato sauce at the bottom of the tray and spread it.
- Coated with a layer of courgettes (1/3 of the slices), and then 1/3 of the ricotta and Parmesan mixture.
No pasta spicy courgette lasagne
- Cover with a layer of grated cheese (1/3 of the cheese ), season and repeat this process 2 more times, ending with a layer of grated cheese.
- Bake the lasagne for 30 minutes if the courgettes are pre-cooked, 40 minutes if they are raw.
- When the cooking time is over, let the courgette lasagne rest 5 more minutes in the oven before serving.
Bon appétit!
You can print or save the recipe as pdf:
No pasta spicy courgette lasagne
Ingredients
- Tomato sauce
- 1 onion
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1 carrot (optional)
- Olive oil
- 1 large can of whole peeled tomatoes
- 1 tblsp tomato paste
- 1 dried chilli pepper
- 1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce or balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp brown or white sugar
- 1 tsp dry thyme
- 1 tsp dry rosemary
- salt, pepper, ground coriander seeds, ...
- Lasagne
- 2 large courgettes
- 9 oz (250g) ricotta cheese
- 1 US cup (100g) parmesan cheese
- 1 egg
- 1/2 bunch fresh parsley
- 1 US cup (100g) grated cheese comté, cheddar or emmental type
Instructions
- Start with tomato sauce:
- - Chop the onion and garlic cloves together, then the carrot separately.
- - Pour a little bit of olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Once the oil is hot, add the onion and garlic bits, and fry them a few minutes until the onion is transparent.
- - Incorporate the carrot pieces and cook for 5 minutes. In the meantime, open the can of tomatoes and remove the liquid from inside. Throw the drained tomatoes in a high container and crush them with a hand mixer. Chop the chilli pepper.
- - Incorporate the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, chopped chilli pepper, the Worcestershire sauce, sugar, thyme, rosemary and seasoning in the saucepan, and mix together.
- - Heat the sauce over low heat until it becomes thick, for around 15 minutes or so.
- While the sauce is cooking, preheat oven to 400ºF (200ºC).
- Cut the courgettes into thin vertical slices with a mandolin or a large knife. Heat the flattop grill (plancha in Spanish) over high heat, and cook the slices of courgettes 3-4 minutes on each side, with no oil to make sure they dry well. Make it in several batches if necessary, until all the courgettes are grilled, and put them aside.
- Mix together the ricotta, parmesan cheese, egg, chopped parsley and black pepper in a bowl.
- Grate the cheddar or comté cheese in another separate bowl. All the ingredients are ready to prepare the lasagne, making 3 layers of each component.
- Pour 1/3 of the tomato sauce at the bottom of the tray and spread it.
- Coated with a layer of courgettes (1/3 of the slices), and then 1/3 of the ricotta and Parmesan mixture.
- Cover with a layer of grated cheese (1/3 of the cheese ), season and repeat this process 2 more times, ending with a layer of grated cheese.
- Bake the lasagne for 30 minutes if the courgettes are pre-cooked, 40 minutes if they are raw.
- When the cooking time is over, let the courgette lasagne rest 5 more minutes in the oven before serving.