blowing bubbles

Possibly a veal and roast vegetable lasagna.

After grabbing a few different lasagna recipes off Epicurious and Cooks.com and wrangling them into a new recipe, I decided to share the result. Because you should eat well.

“It’s hard not to spend the whole day on making a lasagne” – a friend of a friend who knows where it’s at.

Ingredients
Feeds up to 8 people. Will take about two hours all up to prepare.

Veal sauce

1 small to medium sized onion
2 garlic cloves
a can of chopped Roma tomatoes
1/4 cup drained dried tomatoes packed in oil
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup tomato paste
500g ground veal
1/4 cup of stock

Roast vegetables

2 large red bell peppers
3 medium onions
4 medium carrots OR 2 carrots and some yams, OR hey, whatever you fancy and have lying around (I used a courgette once)
8 large garlic cloves
1-2 cups of cherry tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
freshly ground black pepper

Béchamel(ish) sauce

3/4 c butter
7 1/2 tbsp. flour
2.5 c full cream milk
1 cup stock (I used beef)
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp tarragon
splash of wine, I used Vicotto Giovane (thanks Odetti!)
1/2 tsp salt
dash of nutmeg
1 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (Parmigiano Reggiano, another Parmesan or could use Pecorino too)
2 cups grated Mozarella cheese

On top and between

1/2 cup grated Mozzarella (about 2 ounces)
1/3 cup grated Romano or Parmesan (about 1 ounce)
dry lasagna sheets

Preparation

Roast vegetables

The bell peppers are best of you hold them above a naked flame until their skin is nice and charred and easy to peel off. Alternatively, you can grill them in the oven until they’re blackened. Cool and peel. Slice lengthwise into strips.

For the rest of the veg, preheat the oven to 190°C. Cut the onions in 8 pieces each. Cut the carrots into nice bite-size pieces. Peel and crush the garlic cloves a little. In a large shallow baking pan toss vegetables with garlic, oil, and pepper to taste and roast in middle of oven, stirring occasionally, 30 to 35 minutes, or until tender. 10 minutes before it’s ready add the cherry tomatoes. Can be made up to a few hours in advance.

Veal sauce

Separately chop onion and slice the garlic lengthwise. Finely chop dried tomatoes. In a heavy saucepan cook onion and garlic in oil over moderately low heat, stirring, until softened. Add tomato paste, canned tomatoes, stock, and salt and pepper to taste and simmer sauce, covered, stirring occasionally, 30 minutes.

While sauce is simmering, in a non-stick skillet cook veal over moderate heat, stirring, until cooked through. Add veal and dried tomatoes to sauce and simmer 10 minutes. Remove pan from heat. Veal sauce may be made 1 day ahead and chilled, covered. Bring sauce to room temperature before using.

Béchamel(ish) sauce

In large sauce pan melt butter. Blend in flour and cook, stirring constantly over medium heat for 3 minutes. Add milk and stock, stirring constantly until mixture boils and begins to thicken. Add seasonings. Remove from heat and stir in Parmesan. Just before adding to the lasagna at a later stage, stir in the grated Mozarella.

Assemble lasagne

Lightly oil a 13 by 9 inch baking dish. Spread about 3/4 cup veal sauce over bottom of dish and cover with 3 lasagne sheets, making sure they do not touch each other. Drop one third Béchamel by spoonfuls over pasta and spread evenly. Top with one third vegetables. Spread about 1 cup sauce over vegetables. Make more layers in same manner, beginning and ending with pasta. Spread remaining sauce evenly over top, completely covering pasta, and sprinkle with grated cheeses.
Bake in middle of oven 40-50 minutes, covered for the first part, uncovered for the last 20 minutes or so. Let lasagne stand 15-20 minutes before serving. Actually, the closer it gets to room temperature, the easier it becomes to cut into squares, the better.

Serve with bread and wine!