A faceplace friend posted a recipe from satisfyingeats.com for a grain free, slow cooker sweet potato lasagna – and it looked and sounded good! But I needed to make a few, small changes. See, my slow cooker – barely nine years old and not a basic model when new – doesn’t really cook all that slowly, so stuff that folk say can be left for eight nor nine hours is close to being overcooked in five; so, nope, slow cookery was out for this recipe.
And then there was the nutmeg…
There’s a layer of spinach and cheese, and the recipe called for nutmeg, which a lot of folk like in their spinach and cheese. Me? Not so much, so I figured, if I was changing a couple of things, I may as well go off on my own for the rest so, thanks to Gayle and to SE.com for pointing the way, but we’ll be keeping this version in this house.
Note: I used a meat tomato sauce, but you could easily skip the meat and have yourself a fine vegetarian meal where, much like Rich noted as he helped himself to seconds, you won’t miss the pasta.
INGREDIENTS
Lasagna:
•Tomato sauce – I used about a half batch of my Best! Doctored Sauce with ground beef
•Sweet potatoes – I used about 1-1/2 large potatoes to fill my two quart baking pan
•8 oz shredded Mozzarella
•Shredded Parmesan
•Aleppo Pepper
Spinach Mixture:
•10 oz frozen spinach, thawed
•8 oz sliced ‘shrooms
•8 oz cottage cheese, creamed
•1 cup (4 oz) shredded Mozzarella
•1/4 cup shredded Parmesan
•1/8 tsp sea salt
•1/4 tsp black Pepper
•1/4 tsp Aleppo pepper
•1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
•2 tsp Sherry Peppers sauce (or hot sauce)
•Worcestershire sauce
•Spicy Garlic Pepper Sauce (or hot sauce)
•1 tbsp unsalted butter
•1 tbsp olive oil
First, melt the butter with the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat, then add the ‘shrooms and toss to coat.
Sauté for a few minutes, then add the Worcestershire and Spicy Garlic Pepper Sauce to taste – I like ’em both, a lot, so I added a fair amount (mebbe one tablespoon or so) of each – and continue to sauté until the ‘shrooms are nicely browned and most pan juices have been cooked off.
Set aside to cool.
Heat your oven to 350º.
Cream the cottage cheese by placing it in the bowl of your food processor and running until – well, until the cheese is smooth and creamy. As a side note; I use plain (4% milk fat) cottage cheese, not light, and certainly not no-fat because, well, just compare the ingredients listed on the carton and you’ll see why. Also, since this cottage cheese blend is taking the place of a ricotta and egg mixture in the original, I’m thinkin’ I am good to go with using the good stuff.
Add the shredded Mozzarella and Parmesan,
the sea salt, black and Aleppo pepper, chopped fresh parsley, and the sherry peppers or hot sauce and pulse until well combined.
Squeeze the thawed spinach dry, then add to a large mixing bowl along with the cooled cooked ‘shrooms and the cottage cheese mixture and stir to combine.
Peel and slice the sweet potatoes into 1/8 inch thick rounds.
Cover the bottom of a rectangular roasting pan (as noted above, I used a two quart pan, measuring roughly 10-1/2 by 7-1/4 by 2-1/4 inches high) with a layer of tomato sauce, then arrange a layer of sweet potato slices on top – I used some of the smaller slices to fit in between the bigger ones to make for a mostly solid layer.
Spread half of the spinach, ‘shroom, and cheese mixture on top of the sweet potato slices, then a bit more of the tomato sauce to cover. Top that with one cup of the shredded Mozzarella, a bit of the shredded Parmesan, and a nice sprinkling of Aleppo pepper.
Repeat with a layer of sweet potato slices, the rest of the spinach mixture, and the last of the tomato sauce.
Top with the remaining shredded Mozzarella and Parmesan, and another sprinkle of Aleppo pepper, then place on a foil lined baking pan (to catch any drips) and bake for an hour.
Remove from the oven, let rest for ten minutes, then serve. We had ours with a tossed salad with sun dried tomatoes, Persian cucumber, and feta cheese, topped with creamy Greek dressing and, like I said, Rich went back for seconds. He also helped himself to leftovers for lunch the next day, so I am pretty certain this one is a keeper.
Try it yourself and see if you don’t agree.