Zucchini Lasagna Roll Ups
My all time favorite cuisine to cook/eat? Italian food. Hands down. My heritage is predominantly Maltese, so I grew around a lot of Italian influenced food. That being said, I typically steer away from cooking Italian because it’s so carb heavy. Shame…
As a healthy noodle substitute, I am a big fan of zucchini noodles, and have seen low carb zucchini lasagnas popping up all over my Instagram/Facebook feed. Last week I was absolutely craving lasagna, and decided to test out zucchini as a noodle substitute.
This recipe is pretty easy to whip up. The hardest part is thinly slicing the zucchini. Which can be easily done with a mandoline.
These zucchini roll ups feature all the classic lasagna ingredients, as well as a crispy, oregano coated, tofu for extra protein.
This meal is so good. I thought we would have leftovers but we both liked it so much we went back for seconds, and even thirds!
{Zucchini Lasagna Roll Ups}
Serves 2
Ingredients:
3-5 medium sized zucchini (you really only need 3 but I recommend getting an extra in case there are slicing errors)
14 oz extra firm tofu
1 tbs dried oregano
1 tbsp garlic
1/4 cup minced basil
1 egg
3/4 cup skim ricotta
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella
1 cup tomato sauce of choice (I used Arrabbiata)
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Thinly slice the zucchini ‘sheets'.’ They should be as thin as a lasagna noodle sheet. You can easily do this with a mandoline, but if you don’t have one a knife is just fine. It might just take some trial and error, so I recommend getting an extra zucchini or two. You’ll want about 12 zucchini sheets.
Over high heat, pan fry the zucchini sheets for about 1-2 minutes/side. This will make them easier to work with, as well as release some of the excess water. Set aside.
Line the tofu in paper towels and squeeze out the excess water. Dice the tofu and combine with oregano. Pan fry over medium high heat for 7-10 minutes, or until crispy.
While the tofu is cooking, make the lasagna filling. Whisk together the ricotta, parmesan, basil and egg. Season with salt and pepper.
Line a 9x13 baking dish with 3/4 the tomato sauce. Lay a zucchini sheet flat, smear with a small spoonful of the cheese filling, and top with a few pieces of the crispy oregano tofu. Carefully roll up and place in prepared baking dish, seam side down. Repeat with the rest of the zucchini sheets.
Top with the remaining sauce and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Place the remaining tofu around the rollups.
Bake for 25 minutes.
