If you are anything like us, you have probably eaten way too many treats this week, done too much partying and might need a good home cooked meal to take your family through the next few days.
Our cooking class made this veggie lasagna in their own personal ramekins. We loaded up the layers: tomato sauce loaded with basil, parsnips and carrots, then noodles, then a broccoli-swiss chard puree. Their were a few scoffs at the broccoli layer while we were assembling the lasagnas, but as soon as their dishes came out of the oven, the kids fell upon the food, stretching the cheese and slurping down that green layer that had been so suspect a few minutes before.
This recipe has a special place in my heart since it was the very first savory recipe that I wrote, at age 14. The texture of ricotta did not seem appealing, so this lasagna has no ricotta layer. If this is a deal-breaker for you, by all means, add it back in. My friends from high school will smile when they read this. I am pretty sure that, at one time or another, every one of my friends came by for a big plate of this.
And the colors? Pure Christmas. So much red and green deliciousness. In fact, as soon as some of the kids began groaning about the green stuff, we talked about how these are Santa’s very favorite colors, right here in our dish. The elves would be so pleased!
(Tomato Sauce recipe to follow in a separate post.)
Vegetable Lasagna
*4 c. favorite tomato sauce
*1 c shredded carrots
*1/2 c. shredded parsnips
*1 package of no-boil lasagna noodles
*2 1/2 cups broccoli, florets and stems, chopped and steamed and the cooking water reserved
*1 c. swiss chard (the basic green kind works best here), chopped
*a tablespoon or so of olive oil
*1 c. freshly grated parmesan cheese
*one pound of fresh mozzarella, grated
Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Take out a 9×11 pan or 8 ramekins.
Stir the carrots and parsnips into your tomato sauce.
Puree the broccoli, swiss chard, and 1/2 of the parmesan cheese together with a bit of the cooking water. Add a little olive oil if you need some more liquid or keep adding the cooking water, 1/4 cup at a time.
To assemble: Start with a layer of the tomato sauce. Sprinkle one handful or two of the mozzarella cheese. Place a single layer of noodles on top. If using individual ramekins, you can break the noodles up into “puzzle pieces” to cover the tomato layer. Spoon the green layer on top. For a large pan, use about a cup, or for a ramekin, about 1/4 cup. Lay on another layer of noodles. Repeat. Finish with a layer of tomato sauce, a covering of mozzarella, and the rest of the parmesan cheese.
Bake 15-18 minutes for the ramekins or 35-40 minutes for a large pan. The cheese should be golden and just starting to brown.
Pull out of the oven and let cool for at least 10 minutes. Enjoy!
We always spend our Winter holiday in California with my parents and my youngest brother. This year, my parents’ computer unfortunately deleted all of our pictures from Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, but here are some from the local playground and from Train Town in Sonoma.
