Vegetable Lasagna

Printed from: www.grandmotherskitchen.net

Ingredients

Makes on 9x13 inch pan

12 servings

Lasagna:

16 lasagna noodles - Oven ready - 4 per row. These lasagna noodles are thin and flat and smaller than the wavy lasagna noodles that many are more familiar with.

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, large diced

2 garlic cloves, finely minced

2 cups zucchini, cut into small cubes, washed, skin left on, (1 zucchini about 10 inches)

2 cups squash, cut into small cubes, peeled, (1 butternut squash)

2 cups mushrooms, cut into small pieces (about 12 medium size white mushrooms)

1 cup roasted red peppers, chopped

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon pepper

300g spinach, frozen, thawed

2 cups stewed tomatoes

398ml tomato sauce, we used Hunts

1 egg

250g ricotta cheese

2 Tablespoons Parmesan cheese

10-12 fresh basil leaves, cut into small pieces

Cream Sauce:

1 Tablespoon butter

1 cup milk

1 Tablespoon all purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup cheddar cheese (we used cashew cheese, you can use any kind)

Directions

1. Prepare all the vegetables. Peel and dice the onions and peel and mince the garlic. Set aside.

2. Peel the squash, remove the seeds and cut into cubes.

3. Wash the zucchini, leave the skin on and cut into small cubes.

4. Clean the mushrooms, and cut into small pieces.

5. Cut up the roasted red peppers into pieces.

6. In a deep bowl, using a hand immersion blender, blend the stewed tomatoes. Add the tomato sauce, stir together. Set aside.

7. Place the spinach, ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese and egg into a mixing bowl and stir together to combine. Set into the refrigerator while you are cooking the sauce.

8. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a Dutch oven or deep saucepan. Add the onions and garlic and cook for a few minutes until the onions are soft.

9. Add the mushrooms, zucchini, squash and roasted red peppers to the pot. Stir to combine. Add the salt and pepper. Cook for 10 minutes, covered, open lid and stir occasionally.

10 Cut the fresh basil leaves into small pieces.

11. Add the tomato sauce and the basil to the vegetables and stir in. Put the lid on and cook for 10 more minutes. Test after 10 minutes to be sure the veggies are cooked and tender and when they are you will assemble the lasagna. If they are not tender, then cook a little longer. Do a taste test and season to taste.

12. Spoon half of the tomato vegetable sauce into the baking dish. Put a layer of noodles, followed by a layer of half of the spinach filling. Do another layer of noodles with the remaining spinach filling and on the same layer add a small portion of the tomato sauce.

13. Do another layer of noodles and spoon on the rest of the tomato vegetable sauce. Place the final layer of noodles on top. You want to be sure there is lots of sauce in the layer below as these noodles need to be able to absorb the moisture from the sauce in the cooking phase to soften up. Set aside while you make the cheese sauce for the top.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Directions

Directions

Prepare the cheese sauce:

1. Melt the butter on low heat in a saucepan.

2. Meanwhile, in a taller measuring cup, or some sort of container that is good for use with a hand immersion blender pour in the milk. Add the salt and flour and use the immersion blender to combine.

3. Add the milk mixture to the melted butter and keep the heat on low and cook the mixture, stirring as it cooks so it does not stick to the bottom of the pan. It will thicken up very quickly. Keep stirring to prevent scorching. Let cook for about a minute. Add the cheese, shut off the heat and stir the cheese into the sauce until the cheese has melted in.

4. Pour the cheese layer over the top of the lasagna.

Tip: Our top layer of noodles had started to curl upwards from sitting on the sauce, so we flipped the noodles over for the sake of them lying flat before adding the cheese sauce layer. You could pre-soak the oven ready noodles for 15 minutes to soften before using.

Spread the cheese sauce so it is nice and even.

5. Cover the lasagna and place into the preheated oven. We used a silicone flat mat, but you can use aluminum foil or lid if your baking dish has one. Bake for 30-40 minutes until cooked through. Serve while hot and Enjoy!

ENJOY!

Return to this Vegetable Lasagna recipe or check out more recipes at Grandmother's Kitchen