Lasagne

#lasagne #Italian #cheeselovers #maincourse #exoticveggies #baking #bakeddishes #valentinesday #valDspecial #foodforvalentinesday

Ingredients: 8-10 lasagne sheets, 4 cups white sauce (only salted n peppered, recipe given in tips section at the end), 75gms zucchini diced, 1 cup finely sliced onion,1 cup finely chopped onion, 2 cups finely chopped spinach, 1.5 cup yellow red bell peppers sliced, 15 garlic cloves, 1/2 tbsp black pepper powder, 1 tbsp butter, 3-4 tsp oregano, 2 pinches of rosemary or mixed herbs, 200gms grated cheese, salt to taste (use less salt as it tastes better)

Preparation time: 60 min

Recipe:

1. Par boil the lasagne sheets per the instructions on the box. Spread them and oil slightly so that they do not stick over each other. This is a time consuming process. So you can prepare for the other parts.

2.Take a pan and heat 1/2 tbsp butter. Add the sliced onion and saute till cooked i.e. transparent. Add salt to taste and 2 tsp of black pepper powder and keep aside. Now, you can use the same pan again - add remaining butter and heat it. Add the finely chopped onion and cook till transparent. To this, add the spinach and salt to taste.

3. Now, grind the garlic cloves along with the white sauce - kind of blending. This will flavor the white sauce as well as smoothen the same, removing any lumps in the process.  

4. In a square baking bowl (15- 18 cm length and 2" deep), at the base, spread 1 tbsp of blended white sauce. Over that layer the sauteed onions evenly. Over it keep two lasagne sheets adjoining each other to cover the below layer. 

5. Now, spread 2 tbsp (approx) white sauce on this evenly and then spread zucchini evenly to form a layer. Sprinkle the rosemary or mixed herbs on this. Now sprinkle 50 gm of grated cheese over this followed by 2 sheets of lasagne placed adjacent to each other to cover this layer.

6. Add 2 tbsp white sauce over this and again spread it evenly. On this, spread the sauteed onion and spinach. sprinkle 2 tsp of black pepper powder followed by 50gm of grated cheese. Cover this layer again with two lasagne sheets.  

7. Now, yet another layer with 2 tbsp of white sauce spread evenly over the lasagne sheets. Add the

red and yellow bell peppers over this and spread them evenly. Sprinkle the oregano followed by 50gms of grated cheese. Cover this layer with remaining lasagne sheets spread evenly. Over this spread a thin layer of white sauce followed by spreading 50gm of grated cheese.

8. Microwave it for 15min until when the cheese starts baking and you can see golden crusts forming. If its not yet done, microwave for a couple of more min. 

9. Serve it hot scooped out in layers to get the enriching flavor of every layer!

Tips: Do not worry if the lasagne sheets break while cooking, we can still use them! For white sauce recipe - I use 2 tbsp butter, 1 tbsp all purpose flour and 1 tbsp cornflour. Parch it on low flame for 10 min or so (the color must remain white only). Then add 500ml milk and 500ml water while stirring continuously to avoid lumps. Allow cooking for 3-4 min. If it is a thick paste, add milk and water in proportion to get a consistent batter like texture. Do not worry if the lumps are not dissolving. You can use a blender. Add salt to taste and black pepper powder for flavor.