Vegetable lasagna: a classic recipe, with mushrooms and beans. How to cook at home

Prepared by: Julia Vetrina

10/08/2017 Cooking time: 55 min

History of lasagna

The ancestor of lasagna is considered to be a bread flatbread, which the Greeks called laganon. Of course, it had nothing in common with the modern dish, but many are inclined to believe that this particular recipe was borrowed from the Greeks by the Romans, and from them it gradually transformed into classic lasagna.

It is generally accepted throughout the world that the first lasagna was baked in Italy. There is even evidence that its homeland was the region of Emilia-Romagna with its capital in the city of Bologna. Here lasagna was baked from special plates of dough, meat and cheese, which were generously sprinkled on the finished dish. Later, when the recipe became known and loved throughout the country, all kinds of sauces were added to these ingredients: tomato, Bechamel, pesto.

Nevertheless, many peoples dispute the fact of the Italian origin of the dish. The British claim that the recipe belongs to them - at the court of Richard the Second, in their opinion, this dish enjoyed special honor.

Scandinavians, Greeks, and Poles also claim rights to the invention of lasagna. To be fair, it is worth noting that the Greeks have a similar dish - moussaka. It is also a puff pastry, but eggplant is used instead of dough.

And yet, in our understanding, lasagna will forever remain the national Italian dish.

How to cook “Lasagna with vegetables and cheese”

Cook lasagna noodles in a large saucepan of boiling water for 10 minutes. Drain the hot water, then rinse the noodles with cold water and set aside.

In a large frying pan, fry chopped mushrooms, green peppers, and chopped onions and garlic in vegetable oil. Then, add pasta with sauce and basil to them. Bring to a boil and cook over low heat, covered, for another 15 minutes.

Mix grated cheese with eggs. It turns out to be a thick mass.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees 175 degrees. Spread 1 cup of tomato sauce onto the oiled bottom of a baking sheet. Place a layer of noodles on a baking sheet, a mixture of cheese and eggs, as well as pasta and sauce on top of the noodles. We repeat the layers, at the end sprinkle with the rest of the grated cheese. Bake for 40 minutes. Bon appetit!

Dough

Lasagna dough is made from durum wheat and consists of rectangular or square shaped plates. To add color to it, various products are added: grated spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, cuttlefish ink.

In modern supermarkets, lasagna sheets are sold as a finished product in the cereal and pasta aisles. But you can cook them yourself. Also, modern housewives change the classic recipe, using ordinary pasta and even pita bread and pancakes instead of sheets.

Vegetable lasagna with mushrooms

Lasagna with vegetables and mushrooms is a very tasty dish that can be prepared for any occasion. The dish is eaten both cold and warmed up, and it can be stored in the refrigerator for a long time.

Ingredients

To prepare the dish you will need:

lasagna sheets - 6 pcs;
dried porcini mushrooms - 250 g;
onion - 1 piece;
bell pepper - 2 pcs;
Mozzarella cheese - 200 gr;
Parmesan cheese - 100 gr;
tomatoes - 5 pcs;
olive oil - 30 g;

To make the dish truly tasty and aromatic, you can add your favorite spices and herbs to the sauce. Nutmeg, ground black pepper, and basil go perfectly with vegetables.

How to cook

The first step is to rinse the dried mushrooms under running water, and then soak them in boiling water for a few minutes. As soon as the mushrooms swell, they are taken out of the water, thoroughly dried and cut into strips. After this, you should also chop the bell pepper and onion.

Vegetable lasagna recipe

Vegetable lasagna is quick and easy to make. The process is especially simplified if you use ready-made dough sheets rather than preparing it yourself. Such sheets can be bought at any supermarket.

To prepare you will need:

Dry lasagna sheets – 1 pack;
Potatoes – 2 pieces;
Zucchini – 1 piece;
Spinach – ½ pack (frozen) or 100 grams (fresh);
Garlic – 2 cloves;
Cheese – 100 grams;
Olive oil – 3-4 tablespoons.

For the sauce:

Tomatoes – 3 pieces;
Pepper – 1 piece;
Lemon – 1 piece (you will need juice);
Salt - to taste.

Approximate cooking time: 1 hour

Servings: 4-6

Wash the zucchini, peel it and cut into small cubes. Chop the garlic. It is better to cut it, but you can use a garlic press. Place the prepared vegetables in a frying pan and fry in oil for several minutes. Add some salt.
Peel the potatoes and boil them until tender in salted water. Puree the finished potatoes using a potato masher or mixer.
Grate the cheese on a coarse grater and defrost the spinach. If you use fresh leaves, they need to be chopped very finely. Place the spinach in a frying pan and simmer in oil for a few minutes.
Add cheese to the spinach and combine the resulting mixture with potatoes. Mix these ingredients using an immersion blender until smooth, as shown in the photo.

When the filling is ready, you need to make the sauce. It is done quite quickly:

Grind the tomatoes into puree using a blender. Alternatively, you can use ready-made tomato paste (you will need 2-3 tablespoons). Peel the pepper from seeds and finely chop.
Place the chopped pepper in a frying pan and fry it in olive oil for 5 minutes. Next, add tomatoes (or tomato paste diluted with water), salt, and lemon juice to the pepper. It is recommended to simmer the mixture for a short time - 2-3 minutes. Remove the sauce from the heat and beat it with a blender until smooth.
Now you can “assemble” the lasagna. Grease a baking sheet (it should be rectangular or square) with oil and place layers of dough, potatoes, and zucchini on it. The lasagna should be topped with a layer of dough (see photo).
Pour the prepared sauce over the dish and place in the oven for half an hour. You need to check the readiness of the lasagna by checking the readiness of the dough sheets. If they are soft and easily pierced with a fork, then the vegetable lasagna is ready.

Advice! You can change the recipe and pour tomato sauce on each layer of dough. This will make the dish softer and more tender, and will also speed up its cooking.

Lasagna can be served for dinner or lunch. This light, sunny dish will be a hit. It is especially good to cook it in the summer, when there are a lot of fresh vegetables and herbs. You can even diversify the recipe by replacing zucchini with eggplant or other vegetables. And if you remove cheese from the recipe, the dish will turn into a lean one.

Vegetable lasagna with spinach

Ingredients . 2 tbsp. l. olive oil, 3 large carrots, 1 large bell pepper, 1 large zucchini (or zucchini), 1 pc. onions, salt to taste, a handful of fresh baby spinach (or 100 g frozen), 300 g low-calorie cottage cheese, ground pepper to taste, 9 sheets of lasagna dough, 100 g mozzarella.

For tomato sauce: 250 g fresh tomatoes, 50 g basil, 2 tbsp. l. olive oil, 2 cloves garlic, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. red pepper.

Instructions. Prepare the vegetables: peel and cut into small cubes the carrots, zucchini, onions, and bell peppers.

Heat the oil in a deep frying pan and fry the onion over medium heat. Add carrots, zucchini, bell pepper and salt. Stir-fry over medium heat for about 12 minutes until the vegetables are golden brown. Add spinach and simmer for another 3-4 minutes until softened.

Prepare tomato sauce: cut the tomatoes into cubes, place in a colander or sieve, leave for a minute and let the excess juice drain. Then place in a blender bowl, add basil, peeled garlic, red pepper and salt. Beat until smooth (about 3-4 minutes), then place in a bowl and set aside.

Place 150 g of cottage cheese and mozzarella in a blender and beat into a homogeneous paste. Then transfer to a bowl and set aside.

Place the roasted vegetables in a blender and grind them into a smooth paste, then place in a deep cup. Add the remaining 150 g of cottage cheese (not whipped), salt and pepper to taste. Mix all ingredients.

Cook lasagna sheets according to package instructions. Preheat the oven to 180˚C.

Grease a baking dish with olive oil and place 3 sheets of lasagna dough on the bottom (make sure they fit snugly together). First brush them with a mixture of whipped cottage cheese and tomato sauce, and place half of the vegetable filling on top. Then cover it with three more lasagna sheets. Brush them with tomato sauce again and add the remaining filling. Cover with three more lasagna sheets and spread the remaining ricotta and mozzarella mixture over the top of the dough. Cover the pan with foil and place in the oven; bake for 10-12 minutes until the cheese on top is browned.

Then remove the pan from the oven, cool for 10 minutes, cut into portions and serve.

Tips for making lasagna

A very tasty vegetable lasagne is obtained if you replace store-bought sheets with homemade dough. It's easy to prepare. To prepare it, mix two types of flour: premium and second grade. In total you should get half a kilo of flour. Pour the sifted flour onto the table, make a depression in the slide, crack two eggs into it and pour in half a glass of water. Add some salt.

The dough must be kneaded to such a state that it does not stick to your hands, is plastic and smooth.

Before using, the dough should rest in the refrigerator for half an hour.

If you decide to use ready-made lasagna pasta, remember that the sheets need to be laid out crosswise. This will strengthen the dish and prevent it from falling apart when cutting.
The secret of tender dough is simple. Usually, the preparation method is written on the packaging of ready-made dry sheets. The manufacturer advises immediately placing them in the mold without any pre-treatment. Nevertheless, it is better to boil ready-made sheets in boiling water for a couple of minutes and only then put them in the mold. To prevent them from sticking together, it is recommended to add a little vegetable oil to the water, and also not to throw all the sheets into the pan at once.
To prepare lasagna, it is better to use several types of cheeses: Parmesan, mozzarella, Dutch and any others. This will give the casserole a unique taste.

You can make lasagna using cheese instead of filling. For this dish, it is better to prepare tomato sauce and pour it over each layer. Lasagna with the addition of blue cheese has an interesting taste.

A square glass or ceramic dish is best for preparing lasagna. It is advisable that the walls of the dishes be thick, this will facilitate even cooking of the dish.
To give lasagna a richer taste, it is recommended to use spices. You can take a ready-made set of herbs, for example, “Provencal herbs”, “Italian herbs” or “Lasagna seasoning”. But you can add spices separately. Basil, marjoram, pepper, oregano, thyme, paprika, and rosemary are best suited for this dish. However, you can add a standard “Russian” set of herbs – ukrom and parsley.
Delicious lasagna is made from cottage cheese, nuts and dried fruits. There is also a recipe with fruit and berry fillings, such as apple, cherry, banana, strawberry.

Vegetable lasagna from Jamie Oliver

Jamie Oliver is a famous English chef, restaurateur, TV presenter, and popularizer of healthy homemade food. He has many publications, books and awards related to cooking and promoting healthy eating.

Our viewers may know him from the TV show “Lunch in 30 Minutes,” where during this time he creates real culinary miracles and masterpieces.

And in one of these programs, he offers a recipe for vegetable lasagna with green peas, beans and asparagus.

Jamie Oliver uses Parmesan cheese, but since in our country such cheese is considered elite, and everyone cannot afford it, you can use our regular hard cheese.

Of course, she is not entirely vegetarian. It contains chicken broth and anchovies, but that's not a big deal. If desired, you can refuse both.

In general, I suggest watching this video, even if you don’t cook using it. Everything about it is interesting, especially the process itself. And even if you are not a particular fan of cooking, after watching the video, you will be charged with the energy of this person, and you will certainly want to create masterpieces in your kitchen just like him.

I can watch Jamie Oliver cook for hours. Everything about him is easy, simple, and incredibly tasty!

Well, now you have two lasagna recipes, choose the one you like best. And please your loved ones with the chosen dish. I think they will be happy with both options. Therefore, take note of both recipes. First prepare one of them, and then the other.

And I'll leave it at that. And I wish you to prepare the most delicious lasagna, with which you can please all those who eat it.

Bon appetit!

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