Vegetarian Lasagna
I love lasagna. Is there someone who doesn’t like lasagna? What’s in it not to love it? It has oodles of cheese in it. In my lasagna, there is not one type, but multiple types of cheese to add to the fun. I have made lasagna once before (many years back for mil’s b’day) and we loved it. The only problem with that day’s lasagna was finding sheets that were eggless. I don’t know why, but it’s not easy to find eggless lasagna sheets. So the ones we got were not great and ended up being too thick and chewy. A few months back, I found Panzani lasagna sheets which is the usual brand we buy for the other pastas and they were eggless too. So, I was too thrilled and got it. But, that was it – the lasagna sheets lay forgotten in our pantry for a long time. Last weekend when D & I went to pick up some groceries, he declared he wants to have lasagna and how could I resist such a request :). We bought some spinach & ricotta cheese for one layer & figured we’d just use whatever else is at home for the other layers & came back home. I still hadn’t decided when exactly I was going to make Lasagna and that decision was pushed my friend Lakshmi coming over for the lunch that very weekend. She likes italian & she has been wanting to try my pasta varieties and so – lasagna it was for the weekend. This might be one of those few posts where I won’t be saying it’s easy peasy to make. Well, technically each layer is quite easy to make indeed & the scope for ruining the layers are hard. However, the whole process takes some time & more so especially since I was documenting each step. Anywho, the whole thing was absolutely worth it & there were no left overs. This was one dish which was liked equally (aka loved) by all those who had it that day. I got a huge thumbs up from Lakshmi who has been one of my main points of encouragement from the day I started my food blog. She has given a lot of feedback which has gotten me to the place I am currently and I was very happy she tasted one of those creations & liked it too! 🙂 This dish is for a special occasion. So, surprise your loved ones with this. Can’t go wrong.
- 1 bunch spinach
- 1 no green chilli
- 200 gms ricotta cheese
- 4 medium onions
- 3 medium capsicum
- 1 no green chilli
- 10 nos small garlic
- 1 tsp oregano/ garlic herb seasoning
- 2 tsp olive/ refined oil
- 13 lasagna sheets
- 1/2 cup pizza/ pasta sauce
- 1 cup cheese (I used a mix of cheddar & mozzarella)
- 2 tbsp parmesan cheese
- 10 nos basil leaves optional
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Clean & stem the spinach leaves. In a pan, add the washed spinach leaves, chopped green chilli, a bit of salt and let it cook.
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The spinach will get cooked within 5-7 minutes. Turn off the heat.
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Once the spinach is cooled down, mix with ricotta cheese & set this mixture aside.
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Chop the veggies thin and long.
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In a pan, heat some oil & throw in the green chillies & garlic, saute.
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Once the garlic starts to brown, throw in the onions & saute for a few minutes.
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Add the capsicum at this stage & saute. Add some salt as well.
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Once the capsicum is half cooked, add some italian herb seasoning.
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After a few minutes when the capsicum is cooked (but crunchy), turn off the heat.
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The vegetables layer is now ready. Set this aside to cool down.
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Cook the lasagna sheets as per package instructions. Look at recipe notes for what I did.
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Take an oven safe dish & cover the base with some lasagna sheets.
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1. Now spread the pizza/ pasta sauce on it.
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2. Cover with another layer of lasagna sheets.
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3. Layer with some veggies on top of it.
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4. Cover with another layer of lasagna sheets.
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5. Spread some spinach ricotta cheese on top now.
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6. Cover with another layer of lasagna sheets.
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Repeat Step 1-4 another few times till your mixtures get over.
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On the final layer of lasagna sheets, sprinkle a generous amount of cheese, some parmesan cheese & add some torn basil leaves.
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Bake/ Grill in the oven for 5-7 minutes till your cheese on top melts & browns. I used the top-down flame at 200c on mine which didn't require any pre-heating.
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Remove from oven & let the lasagna cool down for a bit. Cut into slices & dig in.
- I cooked my 13 sheets in a big pot of boiling water sprinkled with a generous amount of salt & some olive oil. It took 10-12 minutes to get the sheets cooked. In between, I kept tossing the sheets so that they wouldn't stick to each other. Once done, I ran some cold water to stop the cooking process & started layering the lasagna.Â
- Since D doesn't eat zucchini, mushrooms and many other veggies, I kept the veggie layer simple. You can basically add any veggie you like - zucchini, mushrooms, sweet corn, olives. Go nuts!
- If you want to understand the top-down/ bottom-up heating in my oven, please check this post.Â
Stepwise pictures
Spinach ricotta layer
In a pan, add chopped green chillies & cleaned/ washed spinach leaves.
Add a bit of salt & let the mixture cook.
After 5-7 minutes, the spinach will be cooked & wilted down to a very small quantity. Turn off the heat.
Once the spinach is cooled down, mix with ricotta cheese & set this mixture aside.
Layer 1 ready :).
Vegetables layer
In a pan, add some oil. Once heated, add chopped green chillies & garlic. Saute.
Once the garlic starts to brown, throw in the onions & once they start to brown, throw in the capsicum. Add some salt at this stage.
Half way through, add some dried italian herb seasoning & mix well.
Once the capsicum is cooked (not mushy), turn off the heat. Layer 2 ready.
Layering the lasagna
Cook the lasagna sheets as per package instructions & layer a set of sheets in the base of an oven proof dish. Coat with some pizza/ pasta sauce on top.
Cover with another layer of lasagna sheets & spread the veggies.
Cover with another layer of lasagna sheets & spread some spinach ricotta mixture. Cover with lasagna sheets. Repeat the process of layering with pizza sauce, veggies & spinach ricotta mixture till you have the mixture left.
On top of the final layer of lasagna sheet, sprinkle a generous amount of cheese & some parmesan cheese. You can also add some dried italian herb or fresh if you have them on hand.
Bake/ Grill in an oven for 5-7 minutes till the cheese melts/ browns. I used the top-down flame at 200c on mine which didn’t require any pre-heating.
Let the lasagna cool down for a few minutes after which cut into slices & dig in!
