Vegetable Lasagna




This was SO GOOD!  It's my husbands favorite lasagna, so I figured I would try it!!  So should YOU!!

½ Pound of good lasagna noodles

Ingredients for the VEGETABLE FILLING:

2 Tbs Butter
1 Cup Onion, diced
2 Rounded Tbsp All-Purpose flour
1 Clove garlic, crushed
½ tsp Onion powder
Salt and pepper
1 ½ Cup half & half or Heavy Cream
½ Cup Vegetable broth
1 Cup Carrot, shredded
1 Cup Spinach, chopped
1 Cup Broccoli, chopped
½ Cup Ricotta

Ingredients for the CHEESE FILLING:
½ Cup Grated Parmesan
½ Cup Grated Romano cheese
½ Cup Grated Asiago cheese
½ Cup Shredded Mozzarella

Ingredients for the BREAD CRUMB TOPPING:
3 Tbs Melted Butter
1/2 Cup Italian bread crumbs
1/4 Cup cheese mixture

DIRECTIONS

NOODLES:
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add lasagna noodles and cook until al dente, about 9 min. Drain and set aside in a bowl of cold water (this will stop the cooking process and keep them from drying out while waiting to assemble.

VEGETABLE FILLING:
Melt 2 Tbsp Butter on low heat in a large sauce pan (big enough to add the vegetables to later). Add onion and sauté until translucent. Add flour and stir constantly for 3 minutes (to cook the "flour" taste out of it), then add garlic and onion powder. Season with salt and pepper.
Add vegetable stock and cream (I combined them before hand so that I didn't have too many bowls laying around), increase heat to medium high, bring to a slight boil, reduce heat and continue stirring until thickened.  Remove from heat and stir in vegetables and Ricotta. Set mixture aside.

Preheat oven 375°F.

In a small bowl, add the grated Parmesan, Romano, Asiago and shredded Mozzarella. Set aside.

In another bowl, add 3 Tbsp melted butter, bread crumbs and 1/4 Cup of the cheese mixture, mix thoroughly.  Set aside.

ASSEMBLY:

In a greased casserole dish (I used a 9x13), place a layer of noodles in the bottom, about 4 should work.  Don't forget to dry the noodles well before layering if they had been in cold water.

Add 1/3 Of the Vegetable filling (you'll be making 3 layers) on top of the noodles.  Spread evenly and then top with HALF of the cheese filling.  Add another 4 noodles, vegetables, and the other half of the cheese. For the final layer, spread the remaining vegetable filling on the noodles and top with bread crumb mixture.

Bake uncovered 25-30 min. until top is brown and bubbly. Remove and let stand for at least  20 minutes (so that when you cut it, it doesn't just run everywhere) then serve!

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