A bountiful supply of Zucchini.

The gardener has built another vegetable garden, this one up against the cattle yards.  It is probably the best possible spot for a vegetable garden.  The cattle yards are slightly uphill from the garden so when it rains we get all the beautiful run-off of liquid manure!

Trudi has planted cucumber, tomatoes, eggplant, sweet potato, pumpkin and zucchini.  All of these plants require minimum water but a lot of space.  The zucchinis are huge plants and we have three of them.  You can imagine how many zucchini's they produce!

Tomorrow morning I am going to get up early and harvest the zucchini flowers.  I will stuff them with a ricotta mixture for our lunch and will let you know how they go.  But for today I made a Beef and Zucchini Lasagne.  This recipe was once again from "Clean Living Fast Food".  You can purchase the cookbook HERE.  The zucchini takes the place of the usual lasagne sheets and it is very delicious without the calories.  So here is the recipe.

BEEF AND ZUCCHINI LASAGNE

2 tablespoons coconut oil

500g beef mince

2 large red unions, chopped

1 tablespoon dried mixed herbs

6 overripe tomatoes, chopped

1 cup homemade beef stock

1 bunch basil, leaves picked and chopped

4 zucchini, sliced lengthwise

BECHAMEL

50g butter

1 tablespoon arrowroot

1.5 cups almond milk (I used full cream organic cows milk)

1 egg yolk

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees celsius.

Melt the coconut oil in a large deep frying pan over high heat and add the mince.  Cook, breaking up any lumps with the back of a spoon, for 10 minutes or until cooked and deep golden.  Add the onion. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes or until softened.

Reduce the heat to medium-low.  Stir in the dried herbs, tomato and beef stock.  Simmer, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes or until the sauce has reduced by two-thirds.  Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the basil.  Season with sea salt and ground black pepper.

Layer a third of the meat sauce in a 6cm deep, 22cm square baking dish.  Top with a layer of zucchini. Repeat the layers twice more making sure you finish with a layer of zucchini. Set aside.

To make the béchamel, melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat.  Stir in the arrowroot and cook for 30 seconds.  Pour in the milk and whisk together for 3-4 minutes or until the sauce thickens and is smooth.  Remove the pan from the heat.  Season with sea salt and ground black pepper.  Whisk in the egg yolk until well combined.

Pour the béchamel over the zucchini in the dish and level the surface.  Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the zucchini is cooked and the béchamel is golden.  Rest in the dish for 5 minutes, then serve.