Vegetable Lasagna

A simple summer classic, this is often made with whatever vegetables are available in place of lasagna noodles. The procedure goes like this: make your sauce, get vegetables ready, take out ricotta cheese to soften a bit, grate some mozzarella cheese; oil your casserole or lasagna pan (olive oil is best, although any vegetable oil will work); assemble the lasagna by layering the vegetable, sauce, and ricotta in that order, leaving out the ricotta on the top layer and substituting the mozzarella instead. Bake till everything is tender and bubbly, and you’re done. Now, for a little more detail, here’s an example:

• Sauces are a personal thing. If you’ve got a favorite prepared spaghetti sauce, great. If you make your own from scratch with fresh tomatoes, also great. If you do either of these, you don’t need a recipe for this part. For those who use a canned tomato sauce as a base, here’s a simple recipe that works well: (1) fry 1 pound ground beef or pork with one onion and half a bell pepper, sliced or chopped, till meat is cooked (add fresh or canned mushrooms if you like); (2) In a large saucepan, heat five small cans of tomato sauce and add the meat mixture; (3) add 1 T. dried oregano, 1 t. basil, 1 t. parsley, 1 t. garlic powder or 1 crushed garlic clove, 1 T. dried celery leaves, 1 t. salt, and ½ t. pepper; (4) stir thoroughly and heat through, then turn off burner.
• For the vegetables, you can use one alone or several, as you choose. Thinly sliced zucchini or yellow squash works great, and it doesn’t have to be precooked. Grated zucchini works fine also, and can also be added raw. Pre-cooked spaghetti squash works well. Spinach or Swiss chard make good choices, and they don’t have to be cooked in advance. Some people use cooked broccoli, and some people add a layer of cooked bell peppers. Up to you. For quantity, just use common sense. You’ll want a layer of vegetable, then sauce, then cheese, so just estimate and adjust accordingly as you layer the lasagna.
• One carton of ricotta cheese is standard, along with about 8 oz. of grated mozzarella for the topping.
• Bake at 350° for about an hour, covered, then uncover for another 10 minutes of baking. Some people leave the mozzarella layer off until the last 10 minutes of uncovered baking. Personal preference, I think.
• Absolutely delicious!

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