This summer I’ve been going to the farmer’s market almost weekly. It’s one of my favorite things about summer! I love to support the local farmers and most of the time the prices are unbeatable! This week I found myself with a lot of squash varieties: zucchini, crookneck, patty pan and courgettes. I’ve been trying to include a few more vegetarian meals into our weekly meal plan. With this in mind, I thought of making this Summer Veggie Lasagna based on Bianca Lasagna With Pesto from Kelsey Nixon.
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This is a definitely a great recipe you can make using store bought components or you could go all out making each individual sauce. Personally, I like to make my own sauces so I can control the amount of sodium and fat in each one. I also think the flavor is richer in homemade sauces. 🙂
Since there are only two of us at our house I wanted to make the lasagna in individual portions and freeze the rest. I did this by cooking the lasagna in salted boiling water until pliable (4-5 minutes) and layering the noodles in a + shape in lightly greased ramekins. I then added one sauce, one topping and one cheese per layer. Then overlapped the two ends of the same noodle (the two sides across from each other). Add remaining sauce, topping and cheese. Overlap remaining noodle and top with cheese.
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Summer Veggie Lasagna
Ingredients:
1 box oven ready lasagna
1 T. butter
4 springs thyme, finely diced
1 large leek, diced and well rinsed
1/2 t. garlic salt
4 c. fresh spinach or one package frozen spinach, thawed
2 c. squash varieties, diced
2 small shallots, diced (you can easily substitute half a white onion)
2 c. alfredo or any other white pasta sauce (*see below for my homemade version)
1 c. pesto (^see below for my homemade version)
2 eggs, slightly beaten
2 c. ricotta
2 c. parmesan
2 c. mozzarella
salt and lemon pepper to taste
tinfoil
cooking spray, butter or olive oil
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place oven rack in middle.
Sauté leek and thyme in one tablespoon butter for approximately 4 minutes or until leek is tender and transparent. Add spinach and garlic salt. Sauté until cooked. Set aside. Combine white sauce and pesto. Set aside. Combine ricotta and eggs. Set aside. Combine diced squash and shallot. Set aside.
Now to layer pasta: Spread 1/2 c. pesto mixture in the bottom of 9×13″ pan (this is so the pasta doesn’t stick to the bottom of your pan). Lay noodles across sauce. Spread 1 c. ricotta mixture over noodles, add handful of squash mixture. Top with handful of parmesan cheese. Add another layer of noodles. Spread 1 c. pesto mixture over noodles, add handful of spinach mixture. Top with mozzarella cheese. Repeat until all ingredients are used ending with cheese on top.
Cut piece of tinfoil to cover pan. Lightly grease with cooking spray and put sprayed sized toward cheese. (this is to prevent the cheese from sticking to the tinfoil and the tinfoil is to prevent the cheese from over browning and becoming hard)
Bake for 30 minutes covered. Remove tinfoil and bake additional 10-15 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and golden brown.
Serves: 8-10
*Homemade White Sauce (Béchamel)
Ingredients:
3 T. butter
4 springs thyme, finely diced
1 clove garlic, finely diced
3 T. flour
1 c. milk
1 c. low sodium chicken broth
Directions:
In medium saucepan, melt butter over medium-high heat. Add thyme and garlic. Cook until fragrant, approximately 3 minutes. Whisk in flour 1 T. at a time. Allow floured mixture to cook for approximately 1 minute or until very pale golden brown. Whisk in milk and broth. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
^Homemade Pesto
Ingredients:
1 clove garlic
1/2 c. shelled pistachios (or any other nut)
2 c. fresh spinach
zest & juice from one lemon
1 c. basil
1/2 c. olive oil
1/2 c. grated parmesan
2 T. water
1/2 t. garlic salt
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
Directions:
Combine all ingredients in food processor or blender and process until smooth.
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Sarah Robertson - Excellent blog Miss Belinda!
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