Vegetable Lasagna

Delicious lasagna filled with vegetables and uses an easy béchamel sauce.

Course Dinner

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 1

Cook Time 45

Total Time 1 45

Servings people

Calories 861kcal

Author Liz

Equipment

large saute pan
Medium sauce pan
13x11 baking pan

Ingredients

1 lb Lasagna noodles enough for 3 layers in a 13x11 baking dish
3 Tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
1/2 Onion cut into thin slices about 1 inch in length
3 Zucchini cut in thin slices or half moon slices if the zucchini is very large.
2 Sweet peppers chopped into small thin pieces (not long slices)
1 Carrot cut in thin slices or half moons if it's very large
2 Cups Ricotta whole milk
1 Cup Mozzarella shredded
1 Cup Romano Pecorino grated. you can substitute with Parmesan if that's all you have.
dash Salt
dash Cracked black pepper

Béchamel Sauce

5 Tbsp Unsalted butter
1/2 Cup Flour (approx 70g)
4 Cups Whole milk I have never tried it with low fat or skim milk

Instructions

Heat olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat.
Add the onion, stir to coat with the oil, then saute for about a minute.
Add the zucchini and saute until they cook down a bit - about 3 minutes.
Next add the carrots, sweet peppers, along with the salt and cracked black pepper. Stir to coat, cover with a lid, and saute over low-medium heat for about 30 minutes until all vegetables are very soft.
Meanwhile, cook lasagna noodles according to package instructions. Then drain and run under cold water to make handling easier.
Now we're going to create the béchamel sauce.
In a medium sauce pan, melt the butter over a low heat.
Once melted, add a little bit of the flour at a time, using a whisk to blend until all the flour is used and it's like a thick paste.
Slowly add in the milk, and continuously whisk the sauce to avoid any clumps from forming.
Increase the heat to medium and bring the milk mixture to a low boil. Do not stop stirring! Stir for 1-2 minutes longer or until the sauce has thickened (like a gravy thickness).
Pro Tip: If the sauce ends up having some lumps from the flour that you can't get rid of, you can strain the lumps out.
Now we're going to create the lasagna.
Step 9. In the baking pan, spread a layer of the sauce on the bottom of the pan. Then layer in the following order:
-sauce
- noodles
- sauce again
-veggies
- cheeses
- then repeat with noodles, sauce, cheeses until you end up with the last layer of noodles on top, then top the lasagna with the remaining béchamel sauce.
Pro tip: You can also can mix the three cheeses (ricotta, mozzarella, Romano) together in a bowl first if you want, or layer them individually. I've done both methods.
Bake in the preheated oven at 350F (175C) for 45 minutes or until it is bubbling inside and the noodles are very soft.
Remove from oven and let rest for 15 minutes. This will solidify the sauce and the cheeses making it easier to cut and keep its form. Otherwise it will be too so

Video

Notes

this recipe is very dense and filling!
it goes great with a salad and bread

Nutrition