VEGETARIAN LASAGNA

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INGREDIENTS

The filling
400g fresh spinach or 200g frozen spinach
2 onions
2 garlic cloves
200g ricotta cheese

Tomato sauce
1 crushed tomatoes
Herbs + salt + pepper

Béchamel sauce
40g butter
30g white flour
about 4 dl of milk
Nutmeg + salt

200g grated cheese (comté, parmesan or gruyère for example)
about 150g lasagna sheets 

Let’s start with the tomato sauce. Put crushed tomatoes in a saucepan and start cooking with low heat. Add spices and herbs to your flavour: I like to add oregano, rosemary, thyme, parsley and garlic, maybe a pinch of salt & pepper. Let it cook with low temperature, so you concentrate the sauce (about 10-15 minutes). Set aside when done.

If you’re using fresh spinach, chop it a bit smaller and cook with a little butter until wilted (about 5 minutes should be enough with medium heat). Set aside and let them cool. If you have frozen spinach, just simply let it melt. Drain the excess moisture. Then cook the finely chopped garlic and onion with a little butter in a skillet with medium heat. Let it brown a little bit, but not too much. Set them aside and let cool. Then mix together the spinach, onions and ricotta.

To prepare the béchamel; put the butter in a saucepan and start cooking with low heat. When the butter has melted, add the flower and whisk constantly so they mix well. You can let the butter-flour mixture brown a little bit, if you prefer a bit nuttier flavour. Then add the milk while constantly stirring or whisking. In the end you should have a thick sauce. Add nutmeg and salt if you like, I always do. If you’d like to make your lasagna a little “cheesier”, then turn your béchamel into sauce mornay by adding 50g of gruyère cheese into it.

Then start assembling the lasagna: take a baking dish and put some tomato sauce on the bottom. Then a layer of lasagna sheets, a layer of spinach filling, a layer of tomato sauce, then lasagna sheets, béchamel, spinach, tomato and finally end to a layer of lasagna sheets and a layer of béchamel. Then put the grated cheese on top of everything, and bake in an oven for about 40 minutes / 180 C until nicely cooked and beautifully golden on top.

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A few tips from the chef:

  • If you like, you can also switch ricotta to feta or some other cheese if you prefer.

  • I often make a double portion with two lasagnas; the other one I put into the freezer to wait for a rainy day when I don’t feel like cooking.

  • You can change the filling as you like, put beetroot or pumpkin instead of spinach and you can have a totally different style!


I hope you enjoy your lasagna with a glass of good red wine! From our own production, the Rouge de Carsin is a great combination for this rich vegetarian dish. The wine has soft tannins and a good structure, wonderful friend for pasta dishes!

I wish you a great day in your kitchen, cheers! - Nea

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