Ricotta Cheese and Zucchini Lasagna

From Meg's kitchen:

Mary and I met up with out two other college roommates and the two hubs in the North East in October and we cooked (as is usual when we all gather).  One night I made zucchini lasagna with homemade ricotta cheese.  I love lasagna but until recently I could not find gluten free noodles so I substituted zucchini. Much more healthy!  Early on I thought that the tomato sauce was the master of the dish (the better the sauce, the better the dish).  Not so, I have discovered that homemade ricotta cheese is to die for!  My roomies must have agreed because there were no leftovers.
There are numerous recipes for homemade ricotta cheese.  The first one I tried was very fidgety - too many types of milk (whole, butter and heavy cream). And then monitoring the the heat and time... Ricotta cheese is way simple.  Heat the milk, add the acid and strain thru a cheesecloth lined strainer.

Here is my favorite Ricotta Cheese recipe:
1 quart milk (whole or 2 %)
2 cups cream
1/2 tsp salt
3 TBSP white wine vinegar

Bring milk, cream and salt to a boil (stir occasionally to prevent burning on the bottom of the pan).  When the milk comes to a boil, take it off the heat and add the vinegar and stir it in.  Let the mixture sit for a minute or more until it curdles (starts to separate).  Pour mixture into a strainer that is lined with 2 sheets of cheese cloth (dampened).  Allow to drain until you have the consistency desired (at least 2 minutes)

Note:  Mary and I didn't want to buy a whole bottle of vinegar just to use 3 TBSP so we substituted lemon juice that we had already purchased and it worked but we had to add more than the 3 TBSP and the curds were very tiny.  We ended up with a lemony ricotta that was delicious.

Zucchini Lasagna
2 or 3 large zucchini
kosher salt
favorite tomato pasta sauce
2 cups grated mozzarella cheese
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 cups ricotta cheese


Slice the zucchinis thinly using a mandolin,Spread the slices on paper towels (or use cloth) and sprinkle with salt.  Allow to sit for at least 1/2 hour.  Rinse off salt and pat dry. Zucchini has a lot of moisture and the salt helps draw it out.  Otherwise you wind up with a very soupy dish.
In a 12 x 6 baking dish cover the bottom of the pan with a thin coat of pasta sauce.  Cover with a layer of zucchini.  Cover with a good coating of pasta sauce and all of the ricotta cheese.  Dust the ricotta with 1/2 cup mozzarella and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheeses.  Cover with the rest of the zucchini, add the remainder of the pasta sauce and cover with the remaining cheese.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until the top cheese has browned and everything is boiling hot.