lasagna

Lasagna is one of the ultimate comfort foods. The rich sauce, the melted cheese, and the velvety noodles all layered and warm…and the smell is divine! Lasagna is a dish I make when I want to give extra comfort to others (or perhaps to myself!). A few months ago, I posted my favorite recipe for classic lasagna with a meat sauce. Today, I am sharing a delicious vegetarian lasagna recipe. With so many fresh vegetables available this time of year, it makes sense to put them to good use. And honestly, this lasagna tastes great and feels really healthy. There are so many vitamins and minerals in it, with the fresh spinach, zucchini, carrot, and walnuts, you just know you are doing something good for your body. The recipe is based on one I found in the cookbook 100 Best Vegetarian Recipes by Carol Gelles. I do change a few things when I make it, such as substituting walnuts for pine nuts, and using fresh instead frozen spinach, among a few other small details. I also like to use whole wheat noodles with milled flax seed with this recipe.

Luckily, the heat wave has broken and we are having some very comfortable, gorgeous weather–perfect for making something warm and cozy in the oven. With my kids going back to school and my husband struggling with a knee injury, I wanted to make something special and nourishing for all of us, to fortify us for the coming challenges. I will say that this lasagna is not a quick meal. It is one of those special recipes you use when you have a chunk of time. But it is so worth the effort, once you find that couple of hours to fit it in. And it tastes just as good warmed up the next day for leftovers!

I am sharing this wonderful, wholesome recipe on a special day–it is my first time co-hosting the Fiesta Friday link party! I am joined by Angie, whose recipes are always inspiring and whose photos are totally incredible, and who made the whole Fiesta Friday phenomenon possible, and Kaila@GF Life 24/7, whose blog has delicious recipes for people who are avoiding gluten or have other food allergies–and even if you don’t have a food allergy, her recipes look amazing. If you are a fellow blogger, I encourage you to add your link to Angie’s Fiesta Friday #85, where you will encounter many talented bloggers with wonderful recipes and photos. The posts do not have to be about food, though most are. Just follow the guidelines, and visit the other blogs you see linked to the fiesta. It’s a great way to learn about blogs you might now otherwise see, and a great way to let others know about your own blog. Although I am relatively new to the scene, I have been participating in Fiesta Friday for almost a year, and the bloggers involved are so welcoming and encouraging. I have learned so much by visiting their blogs, and I feel a real sense of a blogging community with them. Please feel welcome to join if you wish!

I will close with an excerpt of a poem I came across yesterday. We are coming up on the season of fall, with all kinds of stunning natural beauty around us, and I am amazed when I look around me at the mist in the fields in the morning, or the lingering blooms of some of the flowers. But sometimes it can be a challenge to see the beauty when there are difficulties going on in the larger world, or in our own personal worlds. Sometimes people we encounter act in less than beautiful ways, or sometimes we ourselves act in ways we wish we could do over. While we are trying to solve problems and right wrongs, it is important to remember to look for the beauty too. This quote reminds me to seek it in good food, in nature, and in the natural beauty of people. It is from the poem “The Rhodora”, by Ralph Waldo Emerson, about a beautiful flowering plant similar to the rhododendron: “Rhodora! If the sages ask thee why/This charm is wasted on the earth and sky,/Tell them, dear, that if eyes were made for seeing,/Then Beauty is its own excuse for being….”

I just love that quote. If you try this lasagna, I hope you enjoy it as much as we do, and have a beautiful weekend!

Vegetarian Lasagna

Servings: 8-12
Time: approximately 35 minutes prep time, approximately 1 hour baking time
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Ingredients:

For the Sauce: (If you are in a hurry, skip making the sauce from scratch and use four cups of store-bought sauce)

3 tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil
1 cup of chopped onions
3 cloves of garlic, minced
14 ounces of canned tomatoes, undrained (if they are not diced, you can break them with a spoon while they are simmering)
3/4 cups of water
1/4 cup of tomato paste
1/4 cup of fresh parsley, chopped
1 teaspoon of oregano, dried
a few sprinkles of thyme
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of ground pepper

For the Filling:

1/3 cup of finely chopped walnuts
1 egg
15 ounces of ricotta cheese
2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
1 and 1/2 cups of shredded cheese (either Fontina, Provolone, Asiago, or a combination of the three)
3/4 cups of shredded Parmesan cheese, divided
1/4 teaspoon ground pepper
approximately 5 ounces of fresh spinach, with as much water dried and squeezed out as possible and chopped coarsely
one small or 1/2 of a large zucchini, finely sliced
one large carrot, peeled and finely sliced
12 lasagna noodles

Directions:

For the sauce, in a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and cook until tender, about 5 minutes. About a minute before the onions are soft, add the garlic so it turns golden and fragrant. Add the remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and cook uncovered for about 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the lasagna noodles according to the package directions.

For the filling, place the walnuts in a small skillet. Cook them over low heat for just a couple of minutes. Remove them from the heat and chop finely. In the same skillet, add a bit of olive oil and sauté the sliced zucchini and carrot until just tender. Set aside. In a large bowl, beat the egg. Then stir in the ricotta and walnuts. Add 1 cup of the mozzarella, the other shredded cheese, 1/2 cup of the Parmesan, and the pepper. Stir well to combine. Then stir in the spinach, zucchini, and carrot.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Spread half of the tomato sauce on the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch baking dish. Place 4 of the lasagna noodles on top of the sauce in the dish. Spread half of the ricotta filling over the four noodles. Then top with four more noodles. Spread the rest of the ricotta filling on top of the noodles. Top with four more noodles. Spread the remaining sauce over the noodles.

Bake for 30 minutes at 375 degrees. After 30 minutes, pull the lasagna out and sprinkle it with the remaining cup of mozzarella and 1/4 cup of Parmesan cheese. Put it back in the oven and continue baking it for another 20 minutes. Remove it from the oven and let it stand for 15 minutes before slicing it. Enjoy!

This recipe is adapted from 100 Best Vegetarian Recipes by Carol Gelles

Many souls have been cared for with lasagna and its many layers of warm, comforting goodness. Lasagna allows the maker to be creative, with all the variations that are available. I enjoy vegetarian lasagna as much as I enjoy the version with meat sauce that I am posting today. This version of lasagna has served me so well over the years that I wanted to share it with all of you. I started making it when I was first married, and over the years I have made additions and subtractions and adjustments, all the while creating bonds with family and friends through this meal. When a friend or relative has a baby, has surgery, or loses a loved one, this is the dish I like to take over to help out. It can be assembled ahead of time and refrigerated or even frozen until it is needed, and then all it needs is baking time. And while it is baking, it fills the house with the most divine smell. I also like to make this lasagna when I am having guests for dinner, because I can do a lot of the work before they arrive, allowing me to be more relaxed while the meal is baking away in the oven. Though this lasagna cannot be considered a quick meal to prepare, it is a wonderful treat on that afternoon/evening when you have the time and it is cold and blustery outside. For some reason, I love to give this meal away. One of the first times I made this lasagna was when my then-new husband was in the army and he invited a new friend over to our apartment for dinner. He and his friend finished the whole tray in one sitting (I ate some too of course, but not nearly as much as they did). His friend, far from home, was so happy to have a home-cooked meal, and I felt like we had made a friend for life after that dinner. I remember another time when my husband and I were renting an apartment on the main floor of an old house and our neighbor (who became a good friend) lived upstairs. I had just pulled a tray of lasagna out of the oven and it was cooling when she walked by our door and started up the stairs to her place. She looked like she had had a long day at work, so I quickly cut a piece of lasagna and handed her a plate of it to take up. She smiled. Layers of warm, comforting food make people smile, and that feels good. This meal tastes great with a green salad. I like to use lean ground beef in the sauce, though Italian sausage tastes good and ground turkey is even more lean. The quality of the tomatoes makes a difference to me, so I get the highest quality of tomatoes I can find. That goes for the meat too. The recipe is based on a lasagna recipe I found in my Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book, though I have made several changes to it over the years. I am pretty sure there is a crowd gathering at Angie’s blog The Novice Gardener for Fiesta Friday, hosted this week by the talented bloggers Suzanne at apuginthekitchen and Sue at birgerbird, so I am going to take this dish over there to share.

Servings: about 8
Time: about 40 minutes of preparation time, plus 45 minutes to an hour of baking time
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Ingredients:

3/4 pound ground beef, Italian sausage, or ground turkey
1/2 to 1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves of minced garlic
about 12 ounces of tomatoes with their juices (a little less if you prefer)
8 ounces of tomato sauce
6 ounces of tomato paste
1-2 teaspoons of dried basil
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon of salt
6 lasagna noodles
1 egg, beaten
2 cups of ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons of fresh flat-leaf parsley, washed, finely chopped, and patted dry
8 ounces of mozzarella cheese

Directions:

For the sauce, cook the meat, onion, and garlic in a large saucepan over medium to medium-high heat until the meat is browned and the onion is tender. Drain the fat. Add the undrained tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato paste, basil, oregano, and salt. Stir well and bring to a boil, breaking the tomatoes into small pieces with your spoon; then cover and gently simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring now and then. Meanwhile, cook the lasagna noodles in a large pot of boiling water as the package directs. Drain and rinse the noodles and let them cool, spread out on a paper-towel lined tray or plate. For the filling, in a medium-sized bowl, stir together the ricotta cheese, beaten egg, parsley, and 1/4 cup of the grated Parmesan cheese. Set aside.

When the meat sauce is done, preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Layer half of the cooked noodles in a 12 by 7 1/2 by 2 inch baking dish (a traditional lasagna dish). Then spread with half of the ricotta filling. Top with half of the meat sauce and half of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat the layers. Top with the remaining 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or till heated through and cheese is melted. Let it stand for about 10 minutes before serving. Serve with a green salad.

To make ahead of time, prepare as above, except after assembling the layers, let cool, cover, and refrigerate for up to 24 hours. When you are ready to bake it, remove the covering and cover freshly with foil, and bake in a 375 degree oven for 35 minutes. Uncover and continue baking for about 20 minutes more, or until heated through and cheese is melted. Enjoy!

This recipe is based on a lasagna recipe found in The Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book, Tenth Ring Bound edition.