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Zucchini Pesto Lasagna

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A filling summer lasagna using homemade kale pesto as the sauce and sliced zucchini to bulk up the recipe. 

Ingredients

Scale

Filling:

  • 1/4 pound zucchini,cut into 1/4” thick rounds
  • 1/4 cup minced scallions (through the greens)
  • 1 cup whole milk Ricotta

Pesto:

  • 2 cups packed kale leaves, stems removed (2 ounces)
  • 1 cup packed basil (1 ounce)
  • 1/2 cup toasted pumpkin seeds
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1 clove garlic
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1/2 cup water

Lasagna:

  • 4 sheets of cooked whole wheat lasagna noodles (see note)
  • 2 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded

Instructions

  • Slice the zucchini in ¼” thick rounds. Place in a colander in the sink and sprinkle with ¼ teaspoon or so of salt. Toss to coat then let sit for 10 minutes. Rinse then pat dry.
  • Bring a pot of water to a boil and have an ice bath ready. Add the kale and basil to the boiling water and blanch for 60 seconds. Transfer to an ice bath. Once cool, remove and squeeze out all excess liquid. Place the kale/basil in a blender or food processor along with remaining ingredients for the pesto. Puree until mostly smooth.
  • Get ready to assemble the lasagna. Preheat oven to 375˚F. Mix ⅓ of the pesto into the ricotta cheese. Of the remaining pesto, using ⅓ in the bottom of the pan. Layer a lasagna noodle over the pesto followed by ⅓ of the ricotta mixture, zucchini, and scallions.
  • Repeat until you have only one noodle left. Lay the noodle on top and spread the remaining pesto over the noodle and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese to finish. Bake until the lasagna is bubbling and the cheese is browning, 30 or so minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before slicing.

Notes

Tips & Tricks: The whole wheat lasagna noodles I buy are a big larger than the traditional store-bought lasagna. This is why I use a bread pan. Feel free to use a pan of a similar size that fits your noodles better.  

Stock up: get the pantry ingredients you will need: zucchini, lasagna noodles, kale

Nutrition:  see the information.

Nutrition

Find it online: https://naturallyella.com/zucchini-lasagna/