8.16.2012

White Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

We've been eating a little less meat around this house, so I was super excited when I remembered this recipe I found a while ago. The first time I made it, I threw in some shredded chicken, and it was incredibly good. Tonight I made it without the chicken and it was still absolutely delicious. When my husband came home, he said, "Mmmm-M! Something smells GOOD!".
Yep. REAL good.
           The flavor roasting the veggies gives is amazing, and really gives this dish a unique flavor.
The recipe calls for white pepper, and I had never used white pepper before.
It's now a new favorite spice.
That and the nutmeg. Must. Not. Skip.
Adapted from original recipe found here.

3 zucchini
3 yellow squash
4 carrots
6 cloves garlic
bag spinach
EVOO
coarse salt
black pepper

1/2 c salted butter
1/2 c flour
4 c milk (I've used whole as well as skim, either works)
1/2 t nutmeg
1/2 t white pepper
3 t chicken bouillon
1 t salt

lasagna noodles (no-boil is OK, but I still cook them for a couple minutes)
1 c parmesan
1 c mozzarella
shredded chicken optional

Crank your oven all the way up to 450 degrees.
Line a jelly roll pan with foil.
 Dice all the veggies, drizzle with olive oil, salt, and pepper.
Toss onto pan and roast 15 minutes or until tender.
 While your veggies are roasting, lay down on the couch and inhale that roasting veggies smell.
Mmmmmm....
Just kidding, you gotta make your béchamel sauce.
Melt your butter in a large pot on low heat, then whisk in flour to make a paste. Slowly add in your milk so that the paste absorbs the milk and you don't have clumps.
Nobody likes clumps.
Add white pepper, nutmeg, bouillon, and salt.
Continue to cook, stirring frequently until sauce has thickened.
Turn off heat.
Turn the oven down to 375 degrees. 
At this point, you'll want to cook your regular lasagna noodles to al dente (noodles will still have a bit of a bite) or barely cook your no-boil noodles. Regular lasagna has the tomato sauce that is quite liquidy, so the no-boil noodles are able to soften sufficiently. With this lasagna and it's thicker béchamel sauce, you run the risk of your noodles being pretty firm if the lasagna's not cooked enough. I was in a time crunch so I decided to just cook the noodles and save some baking time.
Decisions, decisions.
Make the lasagna!
Is it weird that I kind-of love layering a good lasagna?
It's my favorite part. It's OK, I'll admit it.
Layer some sauce on the bottom of the pan, then your noodles, more sauce, roasted veggies, spinach, then cheese. Heck, do your spinach, then veggies, then cheese. Get crazy all up in your lasagna, whatever you'd like. Your lasagna is your domain. 
Just make sure the sauce goes directly on the noodles to soften them.
Cover with foil and bake 30 minutes.
Remove foil and broil 5 minutes until you get those nice brown spots.
Let cool 10 minutes before you cut into it so the sauce thickens back up.
I served this with a green salad and some garlic bread.
Simple twist on the classic!

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2 comments:

  1. This looks so good! And I know my husband will love it. Definitely trying after my next grocery trip.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I made this last night, and it was a hit with everyone who had some!!! Very delicious :)

    ReplyDelete

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