Zucchini-Käse-Lasagne (zucchini and cheese lasagne)
Units
Temperature
Servings
Ingredients
Zucchini sheets
- 900 g zucchini, sliced lengthwise, 4 mm thick rounded
- 10 g fine salt, for salting the zucchini rounded
Cheese béchamel
- 60 g butter rounded
- 60 g flour rounded
- 700 ml milk rounded
- 150 g grated hard cheese rounded
- to taste fine salt rounded
- to taste freshly grated nutmeg rounded
To assemble
- 80 g grated hard cheese, for the top rounded
Method
Method
- Toss the zucchini slices with the salt and leave in a colander for 20 minutes. Press each slice firmly between layers of kitchen paper to remove as much water as possible.
- For the béchamel, melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in the flour and cook 1 minute, stirring. Gradually whisk in the milk until smooth. Simmer 5 minutes, stirring, until thickened. Stir in the 150 g cheese until melted. Season with salt and nutmeg.
- Heat the oven to 190°C. Spread a thin layer of béchamel in the base of a baking dish. Layer zucchini slices over it, slightly overlapping, then more béchamel. Repeat the layers, finishing with a generous layer of béchamel and the remaining cheese on top.
- Bake 30 to 35 minutes, until deeply golden and bubbling. Rest 10 minutes before slicing; this dish is wetter than a pasta lasagne and needs the rest to hold together.
Notes
- Salt and press the zucchini before layering, without exception. Raw zucchini holds a surprising amount of water; skip this step and the lasagne turns watery no matter how well everything else is done.
- A thicker béchamel than usual helps here, since it has to bind a wetter vegetable than pasta; do not thin it down if it looks a little thick before assembling.
- Let the dish rest longer than a pasta lasagne would need. Zucchini releases residual moisture even after salting, and the rest lets it settle into a sliceable structure.
- It keeps for 3 days in the fridge, though the texture softens further on reheating, more so than a pasta-based lasagne.
Ingredient substitutions
- Zucchini can be a mix of zucchini and thinly sliced aubergine, salted and pressed the same way.
- Grated hard cheese can be any good melting cheese; a mix of two gives more depth.
- A layer of wilted, squeezed-dry spinach between the zucchini layers is a good, optional addition.