Vegetarian Lasagna – Perfect For Summer
My Italian friends bristle when I say I am going to fuss with Italian classics, especially when it is the king of Italian foods – lasagna! It is like a slap in the face to their Nonna! I don’t want to disrespect Nonna and I do love lasagna. The thought of the layers of pasta with meat sauce and cheese, one on top of each other, makes my mouth water. It is a dish that is worth the effort, but in summer I protest. I don’t want to make the effort. I wouldn’t want Nonna to have to make the effort. I don’t want a ragu cooking on my stove for hours and hours when it is 90F outside. I don’t want to boil a pot of water to make the lasagna noodles. I want something lighter, something I can grill, something that has some vegetables in it.
A vegetarian lasagna is very easy to achieve and it can be reinvented in many ways. In fact, one of the ways it can be re-invented is to make a vegetarian lasagna where the vegetables even replace the long noodles! Since it is summer, the grill is a perfect place to make a vegetable lasagna. Strips of grilled zucchini make wonderful pasta replacers. So does eggplant. Another way to re-invent vegetable lasagna is to formulate a recipe that can be served cold – another way to make it summer friendly. A vegetable lasagna still calls for a cheese component. In this case, a light and herby ricotta or mascarpone cheese. These mild cheeses and grilled vegetables are meant to be together. The addition of sun dried tomatoes is a perfect way to give the lasagna the tomato impact it deserves without having to make a pot of sauce. Here is great vegetable lasagne recipe for summer!
- 1 zucchini
- 1 eggplant
- 10 mushrooms
- 4 oz jar of sun-dried tomatoes in olive oil
- 4 oz of ricotta cheese
- 4 oz of mascarpone cheese
- Fine herbs (dried herbs usually a mixture of parsley, thyme, tarragon and chervil)
- 1 teaspoon of ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon of cumin powder
- 1 teaspoon of oregano
- 1 teaspoon of paprika
- Salt
- Mix the pepper, salt, cumin, oregano and paprika in a bowl.
- Clean the mushrooms and dry them. Trim the mushrooms and cut them in thin strips of about
- 1/4 inch. Put the mushrooms in a bowl and add the spice mix. Add two tablespoons of olive oil and mix well.
- Clean the zucchini and cut it into long thin slices of 1/8 inch with a mandoline and season with some salt. Sear them for 2 minutes on a hot grill or grill pan with a dash of olive oil. The strips should be cooked, but still have a bit of crispness. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Wash the eggplant and cut it in 1/4 inch thick slices. Cook the eggplant on the grill or grill pan for about 5 minutes on each side. Cook the mushrooms in the grill pan for about 3 minutes on each side. Once cooked through, remove from the heat.
- Mix the ricotta and the mascarpone in a bowl. Add the fine herbs to the cheese to taste.
- Drain the sun-dried tomatoes from the olive oil and chop them thickly.
- Put 2 zucchini strips on a tray lined with baking paper. Make sure the zucchini overlap some. Add a layer of eggplant, mushrooms, herbed cheese, and another zucchini strip on top. Add a new layer of eggplant, mushrooms and herbed cheese and add sun-dried tomatoes on top of the cheese.
- Add a last zucchini layer and spread a layer of herbed cheese on top.
- Refrigerate for at least two hours and remove from the fridge just before serving.
- This is a great recipe for summer, as it is served cold from the fridge. You can replace some of the ingredients of the recipe according to the season and add other vegetables such as asparagus
- or sliced potatoes. You can also change the spices to add a special touch to the recipe. For instance, you can marinate the mushrooms with teriyaki sauce.
- The mascarpone and ricotta can also be replaced with other types of cheese such as gorgonzola,
- parmesan or roquefort.
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What is your favorite way to make vegetable lasagna? Let us know all about it in the comments or on Facebook.
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