Raw Zucchini Lasagna
Hello, readers, hope you’re having a good day!
Today, I am going to attempt to re-create the raw zucchini lasagna featured on the Tasty video titled, ‘Can This Chef Cook a 3-Course Meal With a Blender?’
The video was part of the Tasty series, Chef out of Water, where trained chef Alexis Deboschnek attempts to make a 3-course meal using unconventional tools/appliances such as a coffee pot, hair tools, a microwave, and even a clothing iron.
As you may have guessed from the title, the video in question involves Alexis using a blender to create all 3 dishes. Initial thoughts were that it was going to be a bit difficult because heat brings out flavor and she clearly doesn’t have access to that.
Alexis’s plan was to make a 3-course raw, vegan meal as you can’t cook meat or much of anything in a blender, and all 3 dishes succeeded.
She created a raw walnut pate, a vegan chocolate mousse that she made by using The Sun to melt some chocolate, and the seemingly most successful dish was her entrée, a raw vegan lasagna.
Said lasagna features thin sheets of zucchini in place of the usual pasta, a vegan pesto (because pesto is usually made with cheese), a sundried tomato spread, and a cashew ricotta.
I will attempt to re-create that vegan lasagna and see what all of the fuss is about, and I think it’s going to be good, I feel like if I was vegan then this is the sort of thing that I would want to make.
There wasn’t really a recipe written for this lasagna, so I’m going to go based on what I saw Alexis use in the video.
Let’s do this!
Raw Zucchini Lasagna
Servings: 1
For the zucchini
2 large or 4 medium zucchini
Salt
For the Cashew Ricotta
1 cup of raw cashews, soaked in water for at least 2 hours
3 tablespoons of nutritional yeast (see note)
Salt
1/2 lemon, juiced
For the Pesto:
1 bunch of fresh basil, plus a few leaves for garnish
1-2 garlic cloves
1/2 cup of pine nuts, plus a tablespoon for garnish
1 lemon, juiced
Olive oil
3 tablespoons of nutritional yeast
Salt and pepper
For the Sundried Tomato Spread:
1 large tomato, cut into 8 pieces
2 cans of sundried tomatoes in olive oil, drained
2 cloves of garlic
Olive oil
Salt and Pepper
Note: Nutritional yeast (nooch) is dehydrated yeast and it has a salty, nutty flavor similar to cheese. Vegans and dieticians use it as a dairy-free substitute for a rich cheesy flavor.
First, prepare the zucchini.
Trim the ends off of the zucchini, slice in half, lengthwise, then use a mandolin to slice into thin sheets. If you trust your knife skills, then I suppose you could try slicing them that way, but I find the mandolin helps get all of the zucchini slices to an even thickness.
You should end up with 14 2-inch wide sheets of zucchini, more if you’re starting with thinner zucchini.
Lay the zucchini strips onto a wire rack over a baking sheet, then sprinkle with salt and leave to sit for at least 20 minutes. The salt will pull water out of the zucchini and make it flexible and bendy, like cooked pasta.
While the zucchini does its thing, make the cashew ricotta.
Drain the soaked cashews, then put them into a blender with the nutritional yeast, a pinch of salt, and lemon juice. Blend until it becomes thick, and somewhat smooth, adding hot water until it reaches the consistency of ricotta cheese.
Pour into a bowl, then set aside.
(Edit: I did notice that the color of my ricotta was a bit on the tan side, this could stem from the fact that I used roasted cashews instead of raw, but the flavor was still great.
Also, yes, I am using a food processor instead of a blender because…nobody was making me use a blender, but the result was the same.)
Wash the blender, then make the pesto.
Place the basil, garlic, pine nuts, lemon, and nutritional yeast into the blender. Blend until chopped, then add enough olive oil to create a smooth, spreadable consistency.
Season with salt and pepper, then pour into another bowl and set aside.
Wash the blender again, then make the tomato spread.
Place the tomato, sundried tomatoes, garlic, and a drizzle of olive oil into the blender. Season with salt and pepper, then blend until smooth.
All sounds pretty quick and easy, right? Well, since we’re not actually cooking anything, this lasagna can come together very quickly.
To assemble, start by generously patting the zucchini strips dry with kitchen towels, then place 2 slices of the zucchini onto a sheet of parchment paper.
Apply a layer of the tomato spread, followed by more zucchini, a layer of cashew ricotta, more zucchini, and a layer of pesto. Repeat until you have 2 layers of each spread, and top with a final layer of zucchini.
You should also notice an Italian flag color scheme going on, which I think is very cute.
I admit it doesn’t look very attractive, I definitely could’ve done a better job with getting even layers of the three spreads, but I promise you the flavor is incredible.
Garnish with pine nuts and torn basil leaves, and presto! You have an amazing “lasagna” that you do not have to be vegetarian or vegan to enjoy!
I will note that this isn’t exactly something that should be made in advance, as the lasagna sits, the salt on the zucchini will continue to pull water out so it might not be as structurally sound as you might like.
Alexis, if you are reading this, then I’d just like to thank you for inspiring me to try out this recipe!
