This is a ‘clear the freezer and fridge’ recipe. It’s Keto-friendly as I put the ingredients into the ‘verywellfit’ site to get the nutritional analysis. The lasagne was delicious; far better than I expected! It wasn’t the standard wet texture when you use courgettes instead of lasagne sheets (zucchini in US). Salting the courgette slices to remove water and then washing off the salt and drying them out on a rack at a low temperature helped it remain firm. I’m trying to be more inventive in using up ordinary ingredients and converting them into something delicious. The cost of living is rocketing here so we don’t want to waste food. Everyone said the lasagne was a success. A member of my family who would never (ever) eat a sausage loved it. The recipe made six portions. Try it and enjoy!
Nutrition: (one-sixth of the lasagne): 336 Calories/ Total carbs 10.1g/ Fibre 3.2g/ Net carbs 6.9g/Total fat 23.4g/saturated fat 12.5g/ Protein 24.2g/Vitamin D 170mcg/ Calcium 116mg/Iron 4mg/Potassium 919mg.
Ingredients
- 10 oz lean sausage meat (I removed the sausage meat from 2 packs of good quality sausages)
- 10oz mushrooms
- 6oz chicken in low carb tomato sauce
- 30 g tomato puree (2 Tbspn)
- 300g cream cheese (I used lactose-free)
- 8oz frozen spinach
- 1 cup of cheddar cheese (or any cheese I use lactose-free cheese)
- 3 large courgettes
Method
- Remove the sausage meat from the skins. Break it up and mix it together.
- Slice the mushrooms and fry slightly in a little oil in a hot skillet. Take out and put in a bowl.
- Add the sausage meat to the skillet and break it up as you fry so that it’s in small pieces of sausage meat. You don’t want big chunks.
- Add the mushrooms to the pan and mix with the sausage meat. Add a little water/stock and stir in the tomato puree. You want quite a thick sauce. Continue cooking gently. Taste the sauce and add salt, pepper, Italian herbs and garlic salt to taste.
- As this is a use up the leftovers recipe, I added a small container of chicken in a Keto tomato sauce that was in the freezer. (it was about 6oz chicken) I broke up the chicken into small pieces to mix in.
- Turn the oven on low temperature about 160C/140C fan assisted.
- Prepare the slices of courgette. You want it to be thin but holding its shape. I used a mandolin to make the slices. To make it easier I cut off the top and the bottom of the courgettes.
- Put the slices on a tray and sprinkle with salt and leave for 5-10 minutes. You will see the bubbles of water appearing. Wash the salt off and pat dry.
- Put the slices of courgette on a tray in the oven and let it dry out. You can see the change in consistency. It takes about 10-15 minutes. I used a rack on a tray as then the courgettes don’t stick. A silicone mat or greaseproof paper would be good too. Keep checking them and remove when the slices seem dry.
- Make up the cream cheese and spinach layer by mixing it together. I added a little unsweetened coconut milk to help the mixture and then half a cup of the grated cheddar. Check flavour and add seasoning to taste. It could be a little nutmeg, garlic salt or Italian herbs. I used basil.
- Prepare the baking dish with a little olive oil. start to layer ups the lasagne. First layer was half of the sausage meat mixture, then half of the courgettes, then cheese and spinach topped by the sausage mix. Layer the rest of the courgettes topped by the cheese and spinach layer. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over.
- Cook for 30 minutes at 160C/140C fan assisted until brown
- Let the lasagne stand for 10 minutes so it firms up.
- Slice into 6 pieces and serve
