Zucchini Lasagna Rolls (No pasta!)

 

I watch the morning shows now that I am retired. I love all the cooking segments. This is a recipe I saw on one of those shows.

These are the ingredients you will need to make ONE CASSEROLE:

15 oz. whole mile Ricotta cheese

10 oz. pkge. of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained

1 t. oregano

1 C grated Parmesan cheese

4 oz. prosciutto, chopped

1 egg

3/4 t. salt

2 T. olive oil

2 C marinara sauce

2 large zucchini

1 C shredded Mozzarella cheese

Mix in bowl egg, prosciutto, spinach, ricotta, parmesan, oregano, and salt.

First, remove the outer dark green skin. Then, slice the zucchini with a cheese slicer, as seen in the above photo. This proved to be the most difficult part of the recipe. I am pointing to the middle section of the zucchini which is thinner than the upper and lower parts. This creates non-uniform strips. I chose only the longest strips to use. The rest I set aside for another dish, which I will explain in a bit.

Pour the olive oil in your shallow casserole dish. Then top that with 1 cup of marinara.

Take a spoonful of the spinach mixture and place it at one end of one zucchini strip. Roll the strip up. Place the roll seam side down onto the marinara. Repeat for the rest of your zucchini strips. Do not place the rolls right next to each other. Be sure to leave some space between each roll for even baking.

The second casserole dish contains the olive oil, marinara sauce and the short, leftover pieces of zucchini which could not be filled and rolled with the mixture. I layered them on top of the marinara sauce, then topped with more marinara and mozzarella cheese.

After all the rolls are in the dish, top them with the remaining 1 C marinara, then mozzarella.

Bake in preheated 450F. degree oven, uncovered, for 30 minutes.

What would I do differently? I had alot of leftover filling from the main dish, so that's another reason I made the second, smaller dish. I think the mixture recipe could be cut down. I will choose the largest zucchini, and I will buy extra so I can have alot of good sized strips.

The dish was delicious! As you can see, a bit messy. The sauce splattered in the oven, but it was an easy cleanup with a SOS pad. Next time I may cover it for 15 minutes, then finish baking uncovered. My husband and I ate the whole main casserole as our main dish, along with a small salad and toasted ciabotta with olive oil and roasted garlic on top. If I were serving this zucchini lasagna roll for a small dinner party, I would use it as a side dish. The second, smaller dish was enjoyed later in the week along with baked chicken.