Meat, Veggie, & Goat Cheese Lasagna {grain free!}

After a couple weeks or so of not really feeling up to doing much of anything, I’m finally making another blog post.  It’s about damn time, Abbey.  Good grief.

Let me first explain how this lasagna came to be.  I was soaking a cup of raw almonds for homemade almond milk (which I seem to be making almost daily lately) and completely forgot about them for about 24 hours.  After some online research, I was just about to throw them out thinking they would have gone bad, but I held off for some reason.   Throwing real food away just seems wrong.

A while later, I was flipping through Against All Grain looking for Danielle’s mayo recipe and happened upon the Basic Nut Cheese.  After snickering a bit at the title (sometimes I pretend to be a lady, this was not one of those times), I noticed that the recipe required soaking raw almonds for… wait for it… 24 hours.  Score!

Once I had the Basic Nut Cheese made, my creative fooding wheels started a’turnin’.  The resulting texture is so much like ricotta that I just had to use it in that fashion.  Plus, I had never made a Paleo, or even a gluten and grain free lasagna before, so it was time for a challenge.  I’m mostly dairy free, with the exception of the occasional raw cheese or the more than occasional goat cheese.  So this recipe does have 6 ounces of goat cheese, which I imagine you could omit if you’d like it to be completely dairy free.

Meat, Veggie, & Goat Cheese lasagna {grain free!}
serves 6

ingredients
6 large zucchini (these gents will be playing the part of your noodles)
5 ounces goat cheese
3 ounces good quality sliced prosciutto

For the sauce:
1 tablespoon bacon fat, or other paleo fat of your choice
1 pound grass-fed ground beef
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped or pressed
1/2 small white onion, finely chopped
8 ounces white mushrooms, cleaned and chopped
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
Sea salt and cracked black pepper, to taste
4 cups (32 oz) diced tomatoes, fresh or canned (I used a combo of the two because that is what I had on hand)
3 ounces “no salt added” tomato paste
1/4 cup loosely packed, chopped flat leaf (Italian) parsley
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

For the “ricotta” filling:
1-1/4 cup Basic Nut Cheese from Against All Grain by Danielle Walker
1 ounce goat cheese
9 ounces frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed to remove as much water as possible
1/4 cup loosely packed, chopped flat leaf (Italian) parsley
1 clove garlic, pressed
Sea salt & black pepper, to taste
1 egg

directions
Heat oven to 375 degrees.

To make the sauce: melt bacon fat in large skillet over med-low heat.  Add ground beef and break it up.  Once the meat begins to brown, add in the onion, garlic, and mushrooms, and cook until meat is thoroughly browned and veggies are cooked.  Stir in spices, salt, and pepper.  Add tomatoes and tomato paste and simmer for 30 minutes, uncovered.  Taste (don’t burn your tongue like I did!) and add more salt if necessary.  Stir in olive oil and parsley.  Let cool a bit before assembling your lasagna.

To make “ricotta” layer: mix all ingredients, except the egg, in a small bowl.  Taste and season to your liking.  Mix in egg with a fork.  (Hint: you can do this while your sauce is simmering.)

To make zucchini noodles, slice thinly lengthwise with a knife or mandoline.  Put the slices in a single layer on a microwave safe plate and microwave for 1-2 minutes to help draw out some of the moisture.  Blot with with a paper towel if necessary. I do this prior to assembling because zucchini produces water when it is cooked, and nobody wants watery lasagna.  You may have to do this in batches. (Hint: you can do this while your sauce is simmering.)

To assemble: Spread 1/2 cup of sauce evenly across the bottom of a 7×11 baking dish.  Layer one third of the zucchini noodles atop the sauce, slightly overlapping the edges.  Spread half of the “ricotta” mixture on the noodles and top with half the prosciutto, then 1 cup of sauce.  Repeat the zucchini, ricotta, prosciutto and sauce layers.  Top with a final layer of zucchini noodles, more sauce, and crumbled the goat cheese.

Cover tightly with foil and bake for 30 minutes, until bubbly.  Uncover and bake another fifteen minutes to lightly brown the top.  Let cool ten minutes before slicing.

Tip:  You can complete all the above steps ahead of time, assemble, cover with foil, and refrigerate until you are ready to put it in the oven.  I made my lasagna the night before, then put it in the oven to have ready for lunch the next day.

I will not lie, this is most definitely a labor of love, but I honestly believe it is worth every minute (er, hour).  It’s great for a special occasion and I fully intend to make it again, once I recover from making it this first time.   Hope you enjoy it as much as my family did!

Always,
Abbey