I can see some of you raising your eyebrows. You might be thinking what is this classic Italian dish doing in this blog. I am sure I will forget this recipe after few days if I don’t note it down somewhere. If I write in a book, I am sure I am going to loose it. So I felt this is the best place to save this recipe and such others which I keep experimenting.
Well, my husband and I have become a great fan of Italian cuisine. I first tasted it in San Diego 5 years ago when I was on a business trip. Our client manager, Vijay took us to this fabulous Italian restaurant and I simply loved whatever I ate there. Since my colleague, with whom I stayed there, didn’t like it, we could never go back to that restaurant. Then one day Vijay got us a big batch of vegetable lasagna which his wife had cooked for us. Needless to say, I alone ate that whole batch. It was amazingly delicious. I wanted to learn the dish from his wife, but there were too many hurdles to talk to her and get the recipe. But I never forgot the taste of the lasagna I had tasted.
So when we moved to Kansas in 2006, I always kept on telling my husband to take me to some Italian restaurant to eat lasagna. He is not a big fan of this dish, so whenever we went to Italian, we ordered something else. But on valentine’s day, I insisted on eating this. I asked him to eat whatever he wants and I ordered this dish. Two bytes into this and I was totally disappointed. He was relishing on his chicken amelfi, he had that look on his face, and I knew he was thinking, “I told you not to take that, but you didn’t listen. I am totally enjoying my amelfi”. So that was the end of lasagna for me, I had decided never to try it again, unless I happen to meet Vijay and his wife and she offers to make this for me, which looked highly impossible.
Then I saw a recipe request for this and I thought I have to give this dish a last chance. So I bought oven ready lasagna sheets. I referred pizzas and pastas by Tarla Dalal for the red sauce and modified it according to what I know about this dish. Then I remembered the white sauce recipe which I had seen in a TV show. I knew ricotta cheese is added to the lasagna. The final result was too good to believe. My husband who didn’t want to taste it before thoroughly enjoyed it. This may not be the authentic recipe, but I can assure, you will love this.
The first time I used a big baking pan, so the layers did not come out well. So second time I used a bread loaf pan and it was best suited for this.
Ingredients:
Lasagna sheets
1 cup sliced eggplants
1 cup slices zucchini
1 cup chopped tomatoes
3/4 cup tomato ketchup
Italian seasoning
Pepper powder
Olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 tea spn chopped garlic
1/4 cup ricotta cheese
1 tbl spn all purpose flour
3/4 cup milk
1 cup parmesan cheese
1 tbl spn butter
Salt
Method:
Heat olive oil, add garlic and onion. When onion turns translucent, add eggplant, zucchini and cook on a low flame till they are little soft. Now add tomatoes, salt and cook till the tomatoes are slightly soft. Pour tomato ketchup, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and mix well. Switch off the heat after 2-3mins.
In a separate pan, heat butter and add all purpose flour, keep mixing to avoid lumps. Add milk and mix. When the milk boils, add 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, salt and mix well till the cheese melts and sauce thickens.
In a rectangular baking pan, line up aluminum foil. Cover the base with lasagna sheets. (Follow the instructions on the packet. Since I used oven ready sheets, I did not cook them before baking).
Pour a layer of red sauce. Arrange some pieces of ricotta cheese and then pour white sauce on top.
Repeat this (sheets-red sauce-cheese-white sauce)till all the sauce is evenly distributed. On the top, cover with lasagna sheets. Pour remaining white sauce on top. Spread some parmesan cheese. Cover tightly with aluminum foil. (if this step becomes loose, the sheets fall apart when you take it out). Now bake in oven (along with foil) for around 45mins to 1hr at 350F. Check if the sheets have become soft.
Serve hot.
Serves : 2
Preparation time : 1 hr 15mins
Thats really nice to see your hubby enjoyed your lasagna, now you can cook any time. Wonderfull recipe i also have to try this sometime. My h does not like pasta with red sauce :0
Good and Easy Recipe
good !!!this is one of my favourite too….i used to cook it when we were in germany…i learnt it from one of my husbands german friend…he had cooked it himself when he had called us for dinner….just thinking of it makes my mouth water…i’ll try again after a couple of months…..
hey shilpa, ur lasagna looks fantastic, will definitely try ur version, this is such a good dish for get togethers. Excellent step by step pics 🙂
Hi shilpa,
hmmmmmmmmmm…looks delicious and the steps are so clear.
thanks for sharing.I have a doubt is this sheet available in indian stores or in american store?
I was told to use white sauce at the bottom before laying down first plate of lasagna. You can find that white sauce recipe on the internet.
Among the vegetables, you can practically use any vegetable you want. We use whatever we have at home at that moment, except cauliflower for its pungent smell.
LOL… it happens to me most of the times and i usually end up eating something safe;)
i have not ventured into italian cooking yet other than pizza and little bit of pasta. u r a gr8 source of inspiration shilpa. i have bookmarked the recipe and when i can gather all courage i am surelly gonna try it out:)
can this dish be cooked in a microwave??? i loved it but i dont have an oven :(. and it looks so yumm!
I remember buying a box of lasagna sheets and that itself had a recipe for spinach lasagna.Also you can try using store bought spaghetti sauce.And ya try spreading the ricotta cheese instead of spooning dollops onto the lasagna. I love lasagna,escp veggie,cos there are so many options,spinach-cheese,brocolli+zhuccini+carrots-cheese
I had this amazing spinach lasagna at a friend’s place and have been wanting to make it myself, but never got around to it. I will try your recipe… looks fabulous.
Hi Shilpa,
I was amused by your story..could relate to it on some level too…:)…I am definitely going to try this sometime…am a big fan of pasta and lasagna…never tried it at home though…thanks !
I like Italian food too. If I have lasange, I have to only have a little because all the tomato sauce and cheese gives me heart burn.
I like your veggie version. Excellent to serve as a main course to vegetarians.
Frozen and thawed tofu, with the water wrung out, is great in veggie lasagna and, thanks to the absorbent properties of tofu, the result is never wet or greasy, in the way that lasagna is prone to being.
Thanks to you all. Let me know if you try it.
Afoodie, I don’t know about microwave. All the recipes I read call for baking in oven. Sorry.
Ramya, it is available in any American grocery stores. I bought it in Walmart I guess.
Thanks shilpa for posting this recipe.I thought u had forgotten my request. Im gonna try it out tom itself 🙂
Eaten but never tried it. Thanks for your step by step illustration. I guess my kids will also love it. Good idea of posting instead of writing somewhere. Thanks again.
hai shilpa,
this is so tempting and very hard to resist recipe.Nice one.
Hey Shilpa
Your website is really cool..I would request you to post few more italian dishes since me nd my husband love italian pastas .
Good one
looks delicious! will surely give it a try.. I remember my mom used to make vegetarian lasagna. she used veggie soy granules for the filling…yummmmmmmmmmm… and for the sheets..she used the spinach tortillas..they become really soft once baked..
SHILPS I MUST SAY U R GENIOUS!!
KEEP GOING DEAR!!
lovely… was just asking my hubby the other day….that i wannna taste lasagna…n as iam a vegetarian… we had no idea where we can get vegetarian lasagna… now we can get it at home… thanx shilpa
well hi Shilpa,frankly been to this website for the first time in my lifetime..n i loved dis post of urz.
im a totaly italian cuisine freak!
well i wud love to knw.. if u de recipe for Veg. Canelloni..(its all spinach n cheese, which cheese i dunt knw)
i once tried it in Africa but i dunt get here in Dubai. all the italian restaurants provide only Non-veg Canelloni..
plz if u knw how to make it..
post its recipe too..thnx bbye
hi Shilpa!
I am not a big fan of eggplant. So if i use spinach , will lasagna turn out ok?
Also i wanted to know if i can use marinara sauce instead of chopped tomatoed and ketchup?
Awaiting your response soon.
Thanks
Urvashi.
Shilpa: You have to give it a try Urvashi. I think they should work fine, but I haven’t tried.
thanks
This is my way of making veg lasagna.
Boil the lasagna sheets and keep them seperately on a paper towel. Grind the tomatoes and cook paste with salt, green chili, onions and make a thick gravey. Lastly add oregano and capsicum small cubes and keep aside. Now open a can of sweet corn and keap aside. Boil spinach and keep aside, finally boil some potatoes. Mash with butter and milk and salt and keep aside.
Take your oven dish and oil it and start with a lasagne sheet then tomato gravy another lasagna sheet and spinach topped with cheese another layer of lasagna with sweet corn and lastly mashed potatoes toped with butte and cheese. Ba
Shilpa
Always visit your site when i am doing my weekly dinner list 🙂 Found a simple recipe n decided to post it. We made it for the 1st time n it was delicious !
http://startcooking.com/video/176/Lasagna
Shilpa: Leena, thanks for the recipe. I just updated your comment to remove the whole recipe, as it is also there in the link you mentioned (I am doing this only to avoid copyright issues). Thanks
i tryed your recipe it was lovely only my ready made lasaga sheet did not go soft. I tryed again with the lasagna sheets and run a cold tap over them before adding it to the dish but still NO soft lasagna sheets..
any thoughts………..
Dear shilpa
Can i use any vegetable instead of eggplant, can u suggest me suitable vegetable for this recipe.
Thanks
Shilpa: You could make it with spinach. You can also use mushrooms.
thanks
Hi shilpa,
What is italian seasoning can we add oregano
Shilpa: Italian seasoning is a combination of many herbs. Its available with all other Italian herbs. You can use oregano if you dont have it.
How much milk is need in this recipe for making white sauce?
Thanks for the recipe.
Radhika
Shilpa: Thanks for pointing out Radhika. I have updated the post.
Tried your recipe. It tasted good but the dish was not as tight and compact as the one shown in the pic. The layers seemed loose. Any thoughts??
Radhika
it looks yummy. I will give it a try soon. thanks!
Hi Shilpa,
Is it the same white sauce I can use for mashed potatoes
Shilpa: Sorry, I don’t know any white sauce used for mashed potatoes.
Hi ,
This dish really looks yumm, shall try it have done the version with mince meat and fresh sheets, i just wanted to ask you one thing, why did u use foil for the lasagna, any specific reason. I had once used these packet but did not boil them but they were not fully cooked. so i never tried using the packet lasagna again. But its a big hit with my kids, i use spinach , mushrooms and broccoli lasagna in the veg, as thats the veg they only prefer to eat. 🙂 Thanks for other wonderful receipes on this site shall prepare them one by one. and keep u posted . Keep up the gud job. thanks
Shilpa: I use foil because it is easy to clean.
Hi Shilpa…
can i substitute butter with olive oil for making that white sauce???
Shilpa: Yes