Lentil lasagna

04 Monday Nov 2013

Posted by Zoli in italian, kids, pasta, pasta sauce, tomato sauce, Vegetarian

Tags

bolognese, lentil lasagna, puy lentils, tomato sauce, vegetarian dinner

Not for the faint of heart!
Lasagna is labor intensive, veggie or not. But it can be done in stages in order to fit into a busy week. I made the bolognese sauce and the bechamel sauce on Sunday, so tonight after work I only had to assemble the layers and scoot it into the oven. The plusses of such a time-consuming meal? Hmmm, I don’t know why but Americans really love their lasagna. Something about the yummy gloopiness of it. So that’s a plus. Also it’s a way to get some sneaky veggies in there. And it’s one of those hearty meals that we seem to need some days. It will feed a crowd of hungry people on a cold evening. Not every October night is salad night. Oh and, um, this is just as good if not better than any meat lasagna out there. I love you puy lentil. Sorry green lentil…

Ingredients for 4-6 people
1 1/2 cups of cooked lentils (puy, black or lentil verites)
1 can of tomatoes, chopped with their juice, or 200g of homemade tomato sauce
1/2 cup water
1/2 large onion or 1 small onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 celery, chopped finely
1 carrot, chopped finely
1/2 red pepper, chopped finely
1 fresh ripe tomato, chopped
about 6 mushrooms, chopped finely
1-3 sundried tomatoes, soaked and chopped finely (not the antipasti kind in olive oil)
1 tsp dried basil or 3-4 fresh basil leaves, chopped
salt and pepper
9 lasagna noodles, no pre-cooking necessary is recommended*
2 1/2 cups of shredded cheese (a mix of white cheddar and mozzarella is good)
Breadcrumbs for sprinkling on top (optional)
fresh grated parmesan for sprinkling on top (optional)
*This can be done with normal lasagna noodles that you don’t precook but you will need a bit extra sauce and longer cooking time.

for the bechamel
2 cups milk
3 tbs (or a bit less than 1/4 cup) of butter
1/4 cup white flour
handful of white cheddar or sharp white cheddar
1/4 tsp fresh nutmeg
salt and pepper

Lentil bolognese
1) Cook the lentils according to directions. They don’t take long and can cook while you prep the veggies. Drain and set aside.
2) In a big pot, heat up olive oil and gently fry all chopped veggies until soft. Stir a little and turn down heat if they are browning. Around 15 minutes. The sun-dried tomatoes makes this a RICH sauce. Depending on how strong they are, start with one first.
3) Add in the lentils, homemade tomato sauce or can of chopped tomatoes, seasoning and the 1/2 cup of water if needed. The sauce should be a little soupy.
4) Simmer gently for a few minutes and adjust seasoning if needed. This should be packed with flavor, as the noodles will absorb much of the sauce. Turn off the heat.

For the bechamel sauce
1) Melt the butter in a medium saucepan.
2) Add in the flour a little at a time and whisk over the heat. The texture of the roux should be like wet sand.
3) Allow to cook gently for a couple minutes to take out the taste of flour and then add in the milk.
4) Cook on a low heat, whisking every so often so the flour-butter roux incorporates into the milk and thickens it. Don’t let the milk boil.
5) When the sauce has begun to thicken, turn the heat down very low and season with plenty of salt and pepper and fresh grated nutmeg (1/4 tsp).
6) Add in the handful of cheddar, whisk to melt and taste the sauce. Adjust if necessary. This is not meant to be a super cheesy sauce as more cheese will be layered over it, come assembly time.

Assemble the lasagna
1) Preheat the oven to 375
2) Ladle some tomato sauce into a large baking tray and place down three lasagna sheets next to each other, not quite touching
3) Spoon about 3 heaping tbs of lentil tomato sauce on each lasagna sheet and spread
4) Next spoon about 1 1/2 or 2 tbs of bechamel sauce on each lasagna noodle
5) Sprinkle evenly with cheese
6) Repeat with two more layers
7) Add a little extra cheese to the top and then sprinkle with a little more basil, shredded parmesan, olive oil, breadcrumbs and salt and pepper
8) Cook in the oven for about 30-40 min or until golden and bubbly on top. Or cover with tin foil and then uncover for the last few minutes and brown the cheese on top under the broiler.

Fresh tomato sauce

22 Thursday Aug 2013

Posted by Zoli in italian, kids, pasta sauce, pizza sauce, the basics, tomato sauce, Vegetarian

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

basic red sauce, farmers market, fresh tomatoes, pasta sauce, pizza sauce, tomato sauce, tomatoes

My husband brought home a crate–a CRATE–of tomatoes from the farmers market. He purchased the lot for $10 but it was obvious the low price was due to their undeniably, indubitably overripe condition. What to do but make a tomato sauce? As I’ve written before, yummy and quick tomato sauce from a can of plum tomatoes will always suffice, but there is a differently delicious taste to be had with fresh sauce. And it’s not like it’s that much harder. You don’t need to watch it or nurture it or care for it in any way. You just need to be home.

What you will need:

Lots of tomatoes
1 or 2 onions (depending on how many tomatoes)
3-6 garlic cloves, crushed or sliced
Olive oil
splash of vinegar or wine
tbs sugar (optional)
fresh or dried basil
salt and pepper to taste
extra virgin olive oil to finish

1. Peel, slice and chop an onion, or two onions if you are using as many tomatoes as I did. I used one very large onion for about 15 or 20 tomatoes. Some of my tomatoes had mold growing where they had split. I chopped that part off and used the rest.
Disclaimer! It is best to boil the tomatoes for a few seconds in order to peel them, and it is probably best to discard the pulp and seeds. Not my style though. Way too finicky for a weekday. In my sauce, it ALL goes in.
2. Smash a few plump garlic cloves with the flat of your knife and take off the peel. No need to chop what shall disintegrate after four hours of cooking.
3. Heat up a good glug of olive oil and gently fry the onion and garlic ‘for a spell’. When soft and translucent add in the mountain of tomatoes. Bring to a boil and then turn down to simmer.
4. Cook and cook and cook.
5. When things are beginning to resemble a tomato soup, add in the seasoning.
Depending on the kind of and flavor of tomatoes you may not need vinegar or wine for the tang, or sugar for the sweetness. I started with the basil and salt and pepper, then came back a half hour later, tasted and reassessed. A tbs of red wine vinegar went in, along with a tbs of sugar. After a little more simmering I could have eaten this stuff on its own. Just delicious.
But keep on cooking. You want the sauce to reduce as much as possible and get richer and richer. After about four hours I blitzed it with a hand-held blender, added a glug of extra virgin olive oil, and was pretty much done. I now have about 8 jars of sauce–most of them in my freezer. We’ve had it on pasta, roasted mushrooms, eggplant and pizza so far.