Playing in the Kitchen---Vegetarian Lasagna!

If you insist, like me, in making everything from scratch, this lasagna will take you a long time to make. Get a friend to help, shake up some cocktails or buy a nice bottle of wine (or both, like we did!) and make a night of it, you won't regret it!

I first made this recipe a couple of years ago with a chef friend, the kind who thinks you are lazy if you buy dried lasagna sheets rather than whipping up the dough. I rolled my eyes at that and called her a food snob but kneaded some dough nevertheless and I have to say that she was right. There is nothing like fresh handmade pasta. That being said, you can buy fresh lasagna sheets and they are ridiculously cheap if you consider the labour that goes into making your own pasta. And, as you know, you can also buy tomato sauce, you don't have to wait an hour and a half for it to simmer and reduce (but if you choose to make your own, check out this recipe from Orangette. So simple, so tasty, it's my go-to recipe now for pomodoro sauce.) You don't have to puree your own pesto either, nor do you have to roast your own peppers or make eggplant puree yourself. You can buy delicious versions of all of that and save yourself a lot of time and the results are very similar. It's just so satisfying to make your own!

So we peeled...

...we chopped...

....we shredded...

...we stirred...

...we roasted...

...we peeled again (notice it's getting darker and darker out)...

...we layered...

...we baked...

and then we ate a piece, finally!

and then we ate a second piece, because it's that good.

Vegetarian Lasagna Recipe

adapted from "cuisine vegetarienne" cookbook

Ingredients:

3 eggplants (or eggplant puree)

60 ml olive oil

800g red peppers (or ready made roasted red peppers)

750 g tomato sauce (for a "healthier" and chunkier lasagna, add diced grilled vegetables to the tomato sauce)

250 g lasagna sheets ( or more, we used a loaf pan so we had quite a few layers, which was great)

250 g mozzarella, shredded

1 jar pesto (or make your own pistachio pesto: 75 g pistachios, 1 cup fresh basil, 80 ml olive oil, 2 garlic cloves, 2 tablespoons parmesan. combine in food processor until smooth. the pistachio pesto is particularly good but feel free to get any kind of nut/pine nut you like)

1 package frozen spinach, thawed

1 small container ricotta cheese

1 small container cottage cheese

2 eggs

1. Turn oven on 350 degrees

2.oil a baking/roasting sheet

3. peel eggplant, chop, drizzle with olive oil and salt and roast for 40 minutes or until golden. you can just use eggplant as it comes out but I like to puree the eggplant, with some garlic

4. roast red peppers until skins are black, then peel. I find that roasting them whole is easier but you can cut them in quarters beforehand if you prefer. when you take the pan out of the oven, cover the peppers for 5 minutes or so before you peel.

5.mix spinach with ricotta cheese, cottage cheese and 2 eggs.

6.layer tomato sauce at the bottom of the lasagna pan. add lasagna sheet (if using fresh, just add without pre-cooking pasta)

7.add a layer of eggplant and mozzarella, then lasagna sheet

8. add a layer of spinach and cheese mixture.

9. repeat. for the final layer, spread pesto and finish with mozzarella

10.cover with aluminum foil and bake 30 minutes. remove foil and bake for another 30 min or until golden. let sit for 5 minutes.

Enjoy! Seriously, best lasagna ever. We made extras and brought one over for a friend who just had a little baby a few days ago. I hope she likes it!