Layered vegetable and cheese and pasta casserole
My first real job that didn’t involve caring for children was at the just-down-the-street Safeway deli. It wasn’t a bad job for a 19-year-old, and I got to try lots of things I’d never had the chance to before. Things like pastrami (don’t like it) and havarti cheese (love it!) I discovered that there was more than one kind of potato salad (old-fashioned, mustard and German) and that very few of the salads were made in-store. At that Safeway deli I learned the secrets to delicious fried rice (someday I’ll share) and deli trays.
But my favorite discovery in that Safeway deli was the vegetable lasagna. At that point in my sheltered life, I’d only recently discovered that lasagna could be made without cottage cheese – and it totally blew my mind that it could be made without tomatoes or meat also! I fell in love.
The lasagna was layers of pasta separated by carrots, broccoli, cheese, cream sauce, and who knows what else. And it was goooood.
That was way back before I ever became a cook. That was back when I thought Hamburger Helper was gourmet cooking. When I was impressed with my own mad cooking skills because I baked a potato in the microwave. When hot dates were treated to rice-a-roni beside a pre-seasoned frozen chicken breast (don’t worry…I cooked it first). So there was no WAY I even dreamed of trying to make lasagna myself!
But, like all good things, my days of veggie lasagna came to an end. I moved on; the deli in the city I moved to never had veggie lasagna, and although I often heard veggie lasagna mentioned, I always ended up disappointed when I found it made with a marinara sauce.
In the years since discovering that I can cook, I’ve toyed with the idea of recreating that veggie lasagna. The one thing that has held me back, however, is Farmer Paul’s reaction. Apparently, if it doesn’t have meat and tomato sauce, he feels that it can’t be lasagna.
So it has stayed a fond memory.
That is, until I saw February’s Recipes to Rival challenge: Homemade Ricotta cheese. I knew right then and there that I would try my hand at my memory. And it would be cheesy and veggie-y and delicious.
But you know how you remember something from years ago and then you try it again and you wonder why you thought it was so good way back when? Well, my homemade veggie lasagna was NOTHING like that. It was gooood.
But, to appease Paul, I can’t call it lasagna. Instead, it’s layered vegetable and cheese and pasta casserole deliciousness.
And did I mention it’s goooood?
Layered Vegetable and Cheese and Pasta Casserole
(aka Veggie Lasagna)
4 1/2 c thin white sauce (the consistency of cream)
Mix together veggies:
2 cups chopped carrots and broccoli (I used my food processor with the slicer blade), lightly boiled in salted water until crisp-tender then quickly cooled in ice water to retain the color and stop the cooking.
1/2 c cooked spinach, chopped and squeezed dry
Mix together:
2 c ricotta cheese
2 eggs
1 large clove garlic, chopped
salt & pepper
Grate:
8 oz fontina cheese
6 oz gruyere cheese
8 oz mozzarella cheese
4 oz parmesan cheese
12 – 15 no boil lasagna noodles (3 per layer…I used 12 for 4 layers)
Assembly:
Spread a little bit of white sauce on bottom of 9×13 baking dish (this keeps the lasagna from sticking)
Lay 3 noodles on top of sauce.
spread 1/3 of ricotta cheese mixture over noodles. Spread 1/3 vegetables over cheese. Sprinkle 1/4 of grated cheese over vegetables. Pour 1/4 white sauce over top.
Repeat layers two more times.
Finish with the last 3 noodles and remaining sauce and grated cheese.
At this point, I covered it in plastic and put it in the fridge for the next night’s dinner.
To bake: Preheat oven to 325. Bake lasagna, uncovered for 1 – 1 1/2 hours until bubbly, golden brown and ooey-gooey delicious.
Tags: dinner, pasta, recipe, recipes to rival
Recipes | greengrassliving | 
March 2, 2009 11:52 am
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