Ben's Day Wednesday

Naughty or Nice?

Posted on by Liz

This week Ben and I made not one lasagna, not even two, but three lasagnas. Why? Who makes three lasagnas when the Christmas noose is beginning to tighten and time is at a premium? Well, I was really craving lasagna (the naughty meaty version we all know and love), but I wanted to see if I could lighten it up in a nice vegetarian form without missing the meat too much. The third lasagna, like Ben, was a combination of naughty and nice.

We conducted our experiment in three loaf pans, starting with our meat version (left), then constructing the veggie version (right), and finally using everything we had left from both to make the combo (middle). 
Our meat lasagna looks different ever time, depending on what we have, and feel like doing. This time we had no thawed sausage, and its omission could cause a house riot, so I tried something different. I put a frozen pound of sausage in the crockpot on low with 48 ounces jarred tomato sauce, and Italian herbs. We did this on Saturday, so we got to smell this amazing sauce cooking all day, though 4 hours on low probably would have done it. The sausage broke apart and distributed throughout the sauce, beautifully! 
At some point, we added chopped Canadian bacon, and that was a wrap on the meat sauce.
I wanted to try something different for the ricotta layer, so we first made a roux by melting 2 tablespoons butter, adding 2 tablespoons flour, and then adding about a cup of milk, cooking and stirring until a thick sauce formed. Off the heat, we stirred in about a half a cup of shredded Parmesan cheese. When it was slightly cooled, we added about 24 ounces ricotta cheese, and salt and pepper to taste, followed by 2 slightly beaten eggs. 
After we had used as much of the ricotta mixture as we needed for the meat lasagna, we added a pound of frozen, thawed, squeezed spinach to the ricotta mixture to make the veggie lasagna.
For the veggie lasagna, we started roasting mushrooms and eggplant while making the sauce. We diced these both into half inch squares, tossed with a little bit of olive oil and roasted on two parchment-lined baking sheets until tender, but not falling apart, maybe 15-20 minutes? Mushrooms released lots of juices, but about halfway through roasting, I poured off this liquid and added it to the tomato sauce to infuse the sauce with flavor and to allow the mushrooms to maintain their composure and mimic a meat-like chew.
For the veggie tomato sauce, we started by pulsing some coarsely chopped vegetables in the food processor: one large onion, 2 large carrots, 2 celery stalks, and 1 1/2 bell peppers.
We sautéed that mixture in 2 tablespoons olive oil until golden and most moisture had evaporated. Next, we added about 3/4 cup of red wine, and increased heat until mostly evaporated, a few minutes. Then, we added dried Italian herbs.
 I would have added a couple tablespoons of tomato paste at this point, had I remembered, but I didn’t. Finally, we added 28 ounces San Marzano tomatoes with their juice, crushing and cooking for about 15 minutes. After tasting and seasoning with salt and pepper, we added some fresh, chopped basil, and turned off the heat.
The meat lasagna had layers of no boil noodles, meat sauce, shredded mozzarella cheese, and ricotta mixture. The veggie lasagna had layers of no boil noodles, veggie tomato sauce, roasted mushrooms and eggplant, shredded mozzarella cheese, and the ricotta spinach mixture. The combination lasagna used everything that was left over from making the first two (except eggplant, which Phil finds vile).
I absolutely loved the veggie version. The eggplant and mushroom served nobly in their roles as meat understudies. The tomato veggie sauce had great texture and depth of flavor.
When asked what he wanted his first serving to be, meat, veggie, or both, he chose both. Did he like it? With conviction and finality, he proclaimed, “Oh, my. Yes!”

Whether you have been naughty, nice, or both, we wish you a healthy, joyous Christmas!

4 thoughts on “Naughty or Nice?”

  1. First, the lasagnas sound super delicious! Love the photos of the process. It is very inspiring, especially because here at Chez Witwer we have such low expectations that last night’s dinner was bagels (with side salad). Also the house Xmas decorations look beautiful. Hope you guys have great holidays.

    1. Thank you! The lasagnas were all really good, and it was a great way to kick off a season of fun, food and family. I was most excited about the roasted eggplant and mushrooms, and I plan to add that to other dishes, too. As for the side salad and bagels for dinner, it doesn’t sound bad, just maybe not brimming with inspiration! Have a wonderful Christmas!

  2. All 3 look delicious!! I usually add cut chunks of cream cheese in mine…adds a lil bit to the mix…hope you all have a Meery Christmas!! God Bless!! ??♥️??

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