A New Lasagna

I had a huge hankering for lasagna tonight. But I wanted it to be less cheese-forward and more veggie-forward.

So I worked up my usual sauce, sauteed a diced onion and added garlic at the end, browned up some ground white-meat chicken that I seasoned with Cajun spices. But then tossed in a diced red bell pepper and a couple of finely shredded carrots.

I added a large can of crushed tomatoes, two cans of fire roasted diced and one small can of tomato paste. I brought this to a gentle simmer for about an hour. Season with oregano, basil and black pepper. Heavily.

When I made a spaghetti sauce for my daughters, I often included non-traditional elements to add veggies in their diets. This would include bell peppers, zucchini and carrots. They turned out pretty good, so I think I’m OK here. 😄 I did the same tonight. Except I forgot the zucchini.

I also am sensitive to dairy, so I decided to lean to a goat-cheese, non dairy cheese and a ricotta. In a perfect world it would be a goat cheese ricotta for the fillings. I also layered in button mushrooms and shiitake mushrooms.

Construction: Sauce, noodles, sauce, cheeses, mushrooms, noodles, sauce, repeat. Top with noodles, sauces and remaining cheese.

Bake for 45 minutest at 400°. Let rest for about 20 minutes so the noodles soften. I do like the firmness of the noodles this way, but I absolutely know that when re-heated they will be perfect.

The result was…fantastic.