Zucchini Lasagna Puttanesca

I'll warn everyone right up front...it's got anchovies in it, so if you don't like 'em, don't read on!

This recipe is for an absolutely fabulous 2 sided lasagna (one side hot, the other sweet)

Puttanesca Sauce
In a sauce pot (preferrably cast iron) over medium heat, sautee'
- 2 Tbsp Olive oil
-3 whole cloves of garlic
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- 6 Anchovie fillets

Saute' until golden.
(optional) After the whole cloves of garlic are golden, remove them and the anchovie fillets from the oil and discard. Reserve the oil.

Add in:
-35 oz of crushed tomato
- 2 sprigs fresh basil, bruised
- 1/4 c chopped Kalamata olives
- 1 tsp sugar
- 1 Tbsp capers

Simmer for 30 minutes.

Lasagna
In 2 small frying pans, brown:
1/2 lb. Sweet Italian Sausage
1/2 lb. Hot Italian Sausage

Once browned set sausage aside. When ready to assemble add meat to sauce divided into two batches (hot and sweet).

Fillings:
Slice and grill 4-5 zucchini's sliced lengthwise seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper, until the moisture is removed (i.e. grill marks)
(you need about (16) 1/4" slices)

Mix 2 cups of ricotta cheese with (2) raw eggs and some anchovies paste (maybe about 1.5" ribbon)

Assembly:
Use your usual lasagna layering method to layer sauce, zucchini, and cheese; but layer one side with the sweet sauce and the other side with hot sauce.

(Note: we actually have a divided Lasagna pan so we can make one side one way and the other another way.)

Bake for 45 minutes at 350.

Sprinkle with Romano cheese and enjoy some of the best lasagna you've ever eaten.

Note: we made a traditional Caesar salad with the egg dressing, anchovies, cheese and the whole bit served with croutons.

This is some good stuff!

P.S. It might even blow your socks right off your feet!

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

FCD...that looks so good, I'd risk eating dairy to try it!
Although I'd do only the sweet sausage.

Thank you!!!

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

That's the beauty of it, you can do it either way. I actually like the sweet as much as the hot, just my wife doesn't like anything even remotely spicy hot at all. I like it as hot as it gets spice wise, but I understand; it's not for everyone.

I love to find ways to eat zucchini. It's such an underrated veggie.

I'll bet this would be good with grilled eggplant too!

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

It would be awesome with eggplant.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Sounds great and we just got a bunch of Farmers Market zuks!

Wow! This sounds very good. going to try it. I am a big fan of anchovies. The Zucchini might be hard to find though.
I remember as a boy my mom growing huge Zucchini. Maybe two foot long. She used to make great bread from them. I remember real good country fresh butter from her aunt Francis's farm melted onto it and a warm fresh flavor.
Those where the days friend.

I also remember my mom growing Rhubarb and making some of the best pies I ever experienced ever.

originally posted by: DontTreadOnMe
a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

It would be awesome with eggplant.

Excellent and versatile recipe FCD!

DTOM - Yes, eggplant (aubergine) is used in Greece to make Moussaka, and in Italy to make Parmigiana di Melanzane. Two dishes very similar to FCD's idea.

sounds yummy.never cooked with anchovies before. is this you own recipe?

"I'll warn everyone right up front...it's got anchovies in it, so if you don't like 'em, don't read on!"

Thanks for the heads up.

a reply to: HODOSKE

It's actually my wife's recipe, although Puttanesca is a fairly common Italian sauce recipe in general. Like many Italian (and other) sauce recipes, it's not so much the ingredients that make it special, but rather the method in which they are prepared which make them special. We certainly have no original claim on "Puttanesca" sauce in general, it's been around for hundreds of years.

One of the really nice things about this dish is it doesn't taste fishy at all. The anchovies just bring a really nice depth and body to the sauce.

Oh, and there's an (optional) step I neglected to mention in the recipe (Mods can you add this??)...(optional) After the whole cloves of garlic are golden, remove them and the anchovie fillets from the oil and discard. Reserve the oil.

There are a couple of variations you can do on this dish also.

Puttanesca sauce is a stand alone sauce, it can be used with about any kind of pasta, or on pizza. (This is why the meat in the above recipe is added to the sauce later).

- One variation is you could (obviously) use this sauce with a traditional pasta Lasagna.

- Another variation is you could omit the sausage altogether. Won't make it 'vegetarian', but it's closer.

- Lastly, don't worry about making too much of the sauce. Save any leftover sauce to use over any pasta, or on pizza as a base. (hold the pineapple on this one!...inside joke).

I think one of the things I like best about this lasagna, apart from the great flavor, is the fact that you don't get that bloated feeling afterwards like you just ate a big gob of pasta.

The origins of the name differ somewhat:

Some say that the name originated in the brothels of the Spanish Quarters (whore is puttana in Italian, hence puttanesca); others claim it was invented in the 1950s in a famous Ischia restaurant one late night when a group of hungry customers asked the owner, who didn’t have many ingredients left, to make “una puttanata qualsiasi,” that is, to throw together whatever ingredients he had, to make something simple.

www.italymagazine.com...

Always a nice, tasty, quick and low-calorie sauce to make.
Some ladies get busy around lunch-time.

a reply to: halfoldman

**grin** Yep!

Translated literally "puttanesca" means...Anchovies, Olives and Capers

However, "puttanesco" translates to prostitute or whore.

Hence the dish is sometimes jokingly referred to 'prostitute sauce'. LOL!

I'm not sure I want to know much more behind the derivation of the name more than that!! (for obvious reasons).

It's just a very nice tasting sauce!

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Edited.
Let me know if I put it in the correct place

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Edited.
Let me know if I put it in the correct place

a reply to: DontTreadOnMe

Perfect!

Thanks!