Vegetable Lasagna

A few years ago I had a delicious vegetarian lasagna at a restaurant in Minnetonka, MN called Spasso.  I am not a vegetarian, but they suggested it as a specialty and I fell in love with this dish.  I have tried to find something similar at many restaurants and have not had success in my search.  I decided I would try to re-create this dish on my own.  

I went online to look for different recipes for vegetable lasagna and didn't find any that looked like this one, so I took inspiration from multiple recipes as well as my memory of this dish.  This lasagna turned out better than I ever imagined, especially since I had never made anything like it before.  It was given high praise from my taste testers (my husband, Ryan and our friend Jasen).

This lasagna is gluten free, low carb and low calorie but still gives you the satisfaction of a comfort food classic.

Serves: 8   

Ingredients:

3-4        medium zucchini, ends removed, thinly sliced lengthwise

3-4        medium golden zucchini, ends removed, thinly sliced lengthwise

2           large portabella mushrooms, thinly sliced into strips

1           large eggplant, ends removed, thinly sliced lengthwise

2           jarred roasted red peppers, sliced, (if packed in oil, dry with paper towel)

1-28oz  can crushed tomatoes

1/2 tsp  garlic powder

1/2 tsp  onion powder

1/2 tsp  Italian seasoning

8 oz.     frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained and patted dry

1           large egg

2 cups   ricotta cheese, (I use whole ricotta because I prefer the texture, you can use skim if preferred)

1 Tbsp  chipped fresh parsley

1/2 tsp  salt (sea-salt preferred)

1/2 tsp  fresh cracked black pepper

Dash ground nutmeg

8 oz.     shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese

2 oz.     parmesan - reggiano cheese, grated

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.

2. Lay several paper towels next to the stove; as you cook the veggies, transfer them to the paper towels to drain excess moisture.  Bring a very large grill pan sprayed with nonstick spray to medium-high heat on the stove.  Add zucchini, golden zucchini, portabella mushrooms and eggplant, and cook until softened, about 1-2 minutes per side. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, combine crushed tomatoes with garlic powder, onion powder, and Italian seasoning, and pepper. Mix well and set aside.

4.  In another large bowl, combine spinach, egg substitute, ricotta cheese, basil, salt, and nutmeg.  Mix thoroughly and set aside.

5. Evenly coat the bottom of a 9"x13" pan with 1/2 cup of the seasoned crushed tomatoes.  Evenly layer half of the sliced veggies over the tomatoes.  Spread half of the spinach mixture into an even layer over the veggies.  Evenly top the cheese mixture with half of remaining crushed tomato mixture.  Continue with 1 more even layer of remaining veggies, followed by the remaining spinach mixture.  Evenly cover with remaining seasoned crushed tomatoes.  Evenly distribute mozzarella cheese then grated parmesan over the crushed tomatoes.

6.  Bake in the oven until lasagne is hot and mozzarella cheese is golden brown, about 45 minutes.

Allow to cool slightly, about 15-20 minutes, serve.