Hello
again, friends! Time for yet another
trip to culinary Nirvana with this installment of the Blog. I’ve decided to do something a little bit
different (at least for me), and talk about a fresh twist on a classic dish.
I’m
a HUGE fan of Italian cuisine. I love
the flavors, the herbs, the freshness, and most of all the wide variety of
Italian meats that accompany many of the dishes that I like the best. Sit me down in front of a big ol’ plate of
soppressata, Calabrese salami, cappocola, or prosciutto, with a big (and I do
mean BIG) glass of Chianti and there’s nothing you can do to get the smile off
my face. And one of my absolute favorite
things to make from scratch is Italian sausage.
I put it in everything from pizza to marinara sauce, and it’s a staple
component in my…wait for it…LASAGNA!!
But
(of course there’s a “but”) today I have to force myself to set aside my carnivorous
tendencies in order to share with you a wonderful way to make classic lasagna
without a lick of meat anywhere to be found.
And before you shimmy your mouse up to the red X button to get rid of
this page, just wait a second. I promise
that this recipe has just as much flavor and punch as the original, and is a
great way to get your lasagna fix without it being chock full of meat.
All
you really need to get started is a few of your favorite vegetables (there are
a few that are must-haves), some tomatoes, and some herbs. Obviously you’ll need something for the
filling like ricotta (or you can use cottage cheese if you prefer a thicker
texture) and parmesan cheese, and you’ll need a box of standard-issue lasagna
noodles. You can get as sexy with the
noodles as you want, and by that I mean you can go El Cheapo and get the $1
store brand, or you can splurge for the whole-grain, hoity-toity “healthy”
pasta. It’s entirely up to you.
Vegetable Lasagna (Lasagne di Verdure
in Italian) starts with a solid base of aromatics, and then adds layers and
layers of flavors on top, ending with a beautiful bath of tomatoes and every
chef’s favorite ingredient: time. So, I’m
not going to give you “the” answer to the question “how do I make it,” but
instead give you a basic approach so that you can literally build your
own. What follows is one general
approach to getting to a good veggie lasagna.
Get yourself a large dutch oven with a
healthy glug-glug-glug of good extra virgin olive oil in the bottom. Heat that baby over medium to medium-high
heat and add one diced onion (or two if you like) and about 5 cloves of fresh
garlic, minced. Stirring frequently,
cook the onions and garlic until soft, about 2-3 minutes. Don’t forget to season as you go; layers of
flavor are what you’re after. I add a
pinch or three of Kosher salt and a few turns of fresh black pepper at this
point.
Next, you’ll want to start adding your
veggies, and a good rule of thumb is to add them in the order of their relative
strength. By that I mean if a vegetable
tends to break down under heat (e.g., squash, tomatoes), then add them toward
the end. Things like bell peppers,
carrots, etc. are “harder” and take longer to break down, so add them
first. At this point I like to add some diced
red bell pepper and soften it up for a couple minutes. Then, diced yellow squash and/or zucchini,
mushrooms (I like to use baby bellas, but morels or chanterelles would be great
as well), tomatoes, and then any fresh herbs like basil. I use an obscene amount of fresh basil in my
Italian cooking.
Remember, season as you go, but also
TASTE what you’re doing. Don’t just add
salt and pepper because I say so. Your
best gauge of seasoning is your own palette, so make sure to use it. Also, as a technique, I like to use fresh
rosemary in my sauces. I just take 3 or
4 sprigs of the stuff and drop them right in after the aromatics are soft. You can add fresh thyme as well, and if you
don’t like fishing sticks out of your sauce, tie them all together with butcher’s
twine and drop the whole thing in.
A quick
note on the tomatoes. I like to use San
Marzano tomatoes when I cook Italian food.
These are peeled, whole plum tomatoes packed with basil, and are a
wonderful addition to good Italian cooking.
The trick, though, is to crush them by hand as you put them into the
sauce. I also add the juice they’re
packed in, realizing that I have to simmer it down more in order to thicken the
lasagna filling.
Once
everybody’s in the pool, put your heat on medium and just let everything get happy. Stir about every 10 minutes or so, and make
sure nothing’s sticking to the bottom.
This shouldn’t happen, but it’s good to be sure. I like to keep it at a decent simmer, making
sure that excess water from the veggies cooks out and helps the sauce thicken.
For the
last step, bring a pot of salted water to a rolling boil and cook your pasta to
al dente. Make sure not to skimp on the
salt. Italians believe that pasta should
taste like the sea. Make it happen. I usually add a wicked fist full of salt to
my water.
And now,
friends, the payoff. Get yourself at
least a 9x13 baking dish, if not an 11x15, depending on how much filling you
have and how big of a pan you want to make.
I always rub some olive oil around the inside of the dish to ensure my
pasta doesn’t stick when I serve it.
Place a layer of pasta on the bottom, covering all the surface area of
the dish. Slap a few globs of your
ricotta mixture on top of the noodles and spread it around. Then sprinkle a decent amount of shredded
mozzarella (or sliced buffalo mozzarella) on top. Finally (for this layer), spoon a healthy
amount of your vegetable filling in there and spread it around. Repeat this pattern as desired, ending with
the vegetable filling on top. You can
dust it with fresh parmesan if desired.
Bake on
350 for about an hour and fifteen minutes.
That’s it. Oh yeah…make sure to
enjoy it too.
Well,
friends, I hope that this inspires you to try something new. As always, feel free to post a comment or
shoot me an email. fearnotyourkitchen@gmail.com
Until
next time, friends!
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