Crawford Design

Sweet Vegetable Lasagna

Serves 4

Ingredients

Lasagna

8-10 sheets of no-boil lasagna noodles
2-3 small zucchini, sliced thinly lengthwise
1-2 small yellow summer squash, sliced thinly lengthwise
6 tomatoes, cooked skinned and seeded (or 1 cup canned whole tomatoes)
2 cups julienned parsnips
1 cup julienned carrots
3 cups baby spinach, coarsely chopped
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
1/2 cups coarsely chopped basil (reserved)

Bechamel Sauce

6 tablespoons unsalted butter or vegan margarine
6 tablespoons unbleached flour
3 cups 2% dairy or unsweetened soy milk
salt, pepper, and grated nutmeg

Tofu Filling

1 block extra firm tofu, drained of its water
1/2 cups freshly grated Pecorino Romano cheese(optional)
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/2 teaspoon grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon salt

Directions

Drizzle olive oil over the bottom of an 8 x 8 baking dish and set aside.

Prepare bechamel sauce:
Heat milk until hot but not boiling. (You can add room temperature milk, but heating speeds up the cooking process and in my experience, makes a smoother sauce.) Melt butter in a saucepan but do not let it brown. Slowly whisk in flour until you have a smooth roux, continue whisking for a minute or two and begin adding the hot milk. Cook and stir constantly until the sauce thickens and is creamy but not runny. Season to taste and set aside.
Prepare tofu filling
Crumble drained tofu into a bowl. Add remaining ingredients, mix together with a fork, season and set aside. (If you are preparing the vegan dairy free version, add three tablespoons of nutritional yeast instead of the grated cheese.)
Prepare vegetables:
Heat a little olive oil in a skillet over medium low heat. Saute the parsnips and carrots for 5-8 minutes until crisp tender. Add both the zucchini and squash and toss, just to heat through. Remove from heat.
Assemble lasagna:
- Spread about 1/2 cup of the tomatoes over the bottom of the baking dish. Cover with two sheets of lasagna noodles. Add a layer of vegetables, a few more spoonsful of tomato, and spread about 1/2 cup of bechamel sauce over this layer.
- Add a second layer of pasta, alternating the direction of the layers. Top this pasta layer with the tofu filling. Next do a layer of fresh spinach, add a drizzle of olive oil, a pinch of salt, and top with yet a third layer of pasta. Add more of the vegetable mixture, a few dollops of the cooked tomato, a little more bechamel, and cover with two more sheets of pasta.
- Top the casserole off with a nice cover of bechamel sauce, a sprinkling of salt and pepper, a drizzle of olive oil, and the chopped fresh basil. Finally, spoon a little more of the tomato mixture around the sides of the lasagna.
- Cover with foil and bake in a preheated oven at 375° for about 40 minutes, then remove the foil and bake another 15 minutes. If desired, top with remaining sauce. Serve hot.

Note: Bechamel sauce will thicken while it rests, a gentle reheating should loosen it up. If necessary, add very small amounts of milk, water, or stock until you regain the desired consistency.