My mom, Angela, passed away in 1985. She was from Sicily and I was just really beginning to get into cooking when she died. A short time ago, I was flipping through an old Italian cookbook of hers and saw this recipe, written by her, in the back of the book:
Angela's Zucchini Lasagna
for a printer friendly recipe, click here
Ingredients:
- 3 pounds large zucchini, scrubbed
- 1 quart spaghetti sauce or thick tomato sauce
- 1 cup bread crumbs *
- 1 pound ricotta cheese (more, if you like - the original recipe calls for 2 pounds)
- 4 eggs, lightly beaten
- 2 Tablespoons parsley, chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon each dried oregano, basil
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 1 cup grated Parmesan or Romano cheese
- 1 pound mozzarella cheese, coarsely grated
Instructions:
Slice zucchini into long slices. Cook in boiling water just until limp, about 5 minutes. Drain on paper towels.
Combine ricotta, eggs, parsley, seasoning and half of the parmesan cheese and half of the bread crumbs in a bowl. Set aside.
In a 9x13 pan, spoon a thin layer of tomato sauce. Sprinkle with a quarter of the bread crumbs. Arrange layer of zucchini over this. Spoon half of the reserved ricotta mixture on top of the zucchini. Sprinkle with half the mozzarella cheese. Arrange the rest of the zucchini over this, layer more tomato sauce and the rest of the bread crumbs and top with remaining ricotta mixture. Top with remaining mozzarella and parmesan.
Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 1 hour or until top is brown. Let stand 20 minutes before cutting.
* When using bread crumbs, try making your own. Take any kind of bread you like, even leftover stale bread that you may want to throw away, and place in your food processor and grind until fine. Keep in a plastic container in the fridge and they will last a long time. Fresh bread crumbs are superior to what you can buy in the grocery store.
