courgette gratin with spinach pesto & tofu ricotta

prep 40 mins cook 45 mins Serves 4

If I am nothing if not a green lasagne lover. I made this when chasing the high that is Nina Parker’s Florentine Lasagne, but wanted something that feels like peak midsummer—where the vegetables themselves do all the heavy lifting.

She’s made up of 3 key components which have overlapping ingredients because I do not have the patience nor washing up capacity for complexity. This recipe requires a blender for multiple components, so make sure you have this!

Then it’s a matter of layering your components, whacking it in the oven and enjoying by itself or with some crusty bread.

green sauce
350g spinach *
4–5 garlic cloves (thinly sliced)
1 tsp vegetable bouillon
½ tsp red chilli flakes
½ cup olive oil (divided — use half here, save half for pesto)

filling & layers
3–4 large courgettes (mandolined & salted)
1 can butter beans (washed & drained)

pesto
remainder of the blanched & squeezed greens
¼ cup mixed seeds (pumpkin, sunflower — or any seed / nut)
¼ cup olive oil (the remainder from the green sauce)
½ lemon (juiced)
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
to taste salt & black pepper

tofu ricotta
150g firm tofu
splash plant-based milk **
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
½ lemon (juiced)
to taste salt

* can be substituted for 200g kale or cavolo nero

for the filling

  1. Slice or mandoline your courgettes lengthwise into ribbons about 0.5cm thick.

  2. Place them in a large bowl, toss with a generous tablespoon of salt, and mix well.

  3. Leave to one side for 20–30 minutes while the salt draws out the excess moisture. This ensures we don’t get a watery gratin when cooked.

  4. Rinse the ribbons thoroughly in cold water to remove the salt residue, pat them completely dry with a tea towel, and set aside.

for the green sauce

  1. Blanch 350g of your greens in boiling water for 1–2 minutes. Once cool enough to handle, squeeze out as much water as possible and roughly chop.

    (Save the final 1/3 of spinach for the pesto)

  2. Thinly slice your garlic. Pour ½ cup of olive oil into a small saucepan and add the garlic before turning on the heat—this helps ensure the garlic don’t burn before they soften.

  3. Turn the heat to low and swirl occasionally. After a few minutes, the garlic will be completely softened and the oil infused with their flavour. Finish with chilli flakes.

  4. To a blender, add the blanched greens, the softened garlic slices along with half of the infused olive oil (roughly ¼ cup), lemon zest, and vegetable stock.
    (Save the other half of oil for the pesto!)

  5. Blend until it’s a smooth, vibrant green liquid, adding a splash of water if it needed.

for the pesto

  1. Add the infused oil, remaining blanched spinach, nuts and seeds, and nutritional yeast to a mortar and pestle. Grind together until a pesto forms (adding additional olive oil if desired) Season with lemon juice, salt, and pepper to taste.

    (If you don’t have a mortar and pestle, you can pulse the ingredients together in a blender)

for the tofu ricotta

  1. Blend together the firm tofu, nutritional yeast, salt, and the juice of half a lemon.

  2. Add a splash of milk to loosen things up if needed. Careful not to add too much liquid as we want a thick curd.

  3. Season to taste.

for the assembly

  1. Preheat your oven to 180°C.

  2. Grab a medium-sized ovenproof baking dish. Spoon a little of the green sauce onto the bottom of the dish to create a base, then follow with a layer of courgette ribbons to cover it completely.

  3. Next, add a scattered sprinkle of butter beans between dollops of pesto and tofu ricotta. I like to crack fresh black pepper & chilli flakes over each individual layer.

  4. Repeat this process—courgettes, green sauce, butter beans, pesto, ricotta —until you run out of courgette ribbons. Make sure you’ve saved enough courgettes so the final layer is completely covered with courgette.

  5. To finish, pour over any remainder of green sauce dollop with your final bits of ricotta and pesto.

  6. Drizzle with olive oil before cooking covered for 20 minutes. Remove foil and cook for another 20minutes until the sauce is bubbling and the ricotta is speckled golden.

  7. Finish with a fresh sprinkle of lemon zest, flaky sea salt, or some parmesan!