Made From Scratch: Vegetable Lasagna

When someone tells you something is made from scratch, does that typically make it more appealing to eat? It does for me, and this week I put together a vegetable lasagna for a potluck I’ll be attending this evening. I know there will be several vegetarian guests, as well as many people who enjoy, appreciate and work for local food access at said potluck. It has also barely climbed above single digits here in balmy South East Ohio over the past several days, so I also knew I wanted to make something warm, hearty and soulfully cozy. For me, this has always been a bill fit by lasagna. For me now, that meant creating a lasagna that would provide some nutrients along with its cheesy richness, as well as incorporating as many locally produced and homemade ingredients as possible. Below is what I came up with. When pulled from the oven after baking until bubbly, this lasagna looked and smelled like perfection.



Queen Honeybea’s
Vegetable Lasagna

The Parts:

Ricotta Cheese
Vegetable Filling
Tomato Sauce
Lasagna Noodles


Part One: Ricotta Cheese

Homemade Snowville Creamery Ricotta Cheese
(Adapted from the Snowville Creamery website)

One gallon of Snowville Creamery Whole Milk (or other locally produced milk)
6 TBS. distilled white vinegar
1 TBS. salt
Cheesecloth
Candy Thermometer

1. In a large sauce pot using the candy thermometer, heat the milk slowly to 180 degrees F. As soon as that temperature is reached, stir in the vinegar and salt. Assure that the milk either again reaches, or remains at 180 degrees F, then remove it from the heat. Cover and let stand for 15 minutes.

2. In the meantime, line a large colander with 2 layers of cheesecloth. Wet the cheesecloth so that it conforms to the colander, and make sure the edges of the cloth extend above the top of the colander and drape over the edge.
3. After 15 minutes, scoop the separated curds out of the milk mixture and into the cheesecloth lined colander. Once you’ve removed most of the large pieces, drain the whey through the cheesecloth to ensure you get all of the curds. Then, pull the edges of the cheesecloth together and hang the bundle of curds over a bowl or over the sink for 15 minutes. This will produce a soft, silky ricotta.

4. After 15 minutes of hanging, remove the collected cheese to a bowl. This should produce about 2 cups of ricotta cheese.




Part Two: Vegetable Filling



Sautee of Red Onion, Mushroom and Spinach

1 TBS. extra virgin olive oil
One large locally grown red onion, diced
16 oz. of locally grown mushrooms (I actually used shitake, they were delicious), diced
16 oz. of locally grown spinach, roughly chopped
½ tsp. garlic salt
Black pepper

1. In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium high heat.
2. Add the diced red onion and diced mushroom pieces, and cook stirring frequently until the onions begin to turn translucent and sweat and the mushroom pieces appear moist and plumped, about 6 or 7 minutes.
3. Add the chopped spinach, garlic salt and pepper (to taste) and cook again stirring frequently for 4 or 5 more minutes, until the spinach is wilted and the vegetables appear to be cooked. Set aside to cool.




Part Three: Tomato Sauce

Quick Sauce for Lasagna or Baked Ziti

1 TBS. extra virgin olive oil
One clove of garlic, minced
15 oz. can of organic fire roasted crushed tomatoes
15 oz. can of organic tomato sauce
8 oz. water
½ cup red wine
1 tsp. dried oregano
2 tsp. dried basil
½ tsp. salt
Black pepper

1. In a medium size sauce pan, combine the oil and garlic while you open the cans of tomato sauce. Pour in the crushed tomatoes, tomato sauce, water, wine, oregano, basil, salt and black pepper (to taste), stir to combine and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce the heat to a simmer, and simmer uncovered for about one hour, or until the mixture is reduced and thickened slightly and tastes correct. Set aside to cool.


Part Four: Lasagna Noodles

Queen Honeybea’s
Almost Whole Wheat Pasta (For One Pound)

1 cup whole-wheat flour
½ cup organic, unbleached all-purpose flour
½ cup semolina flour
½ tsp. salt
2 local, free range eggs
2 TBS. water
1 TBS. extra virgin olive oil
Pasta maker

1. In a large bowl, combine the flours, and salt. Make a well in the center.
2. Into the well, crack the eggs and add the water and olive oil. With a fork, whisk them together, slowly incorporating flour from the sides of the well. Gradually incorporate all the flour, switching to your hands when it becomes too much for the fork to handle. Knead this into a stiff dough, making sure it is incorporated and binding together. Wrap in plastic wrap and let rest for 15 minutes.
3. In the meantime, set up your pasta maker on a lightly floured pastry cloth. Cut of ¼ of the dough at a time, and press through the thickest setting on the pasta maker. Fold this piece of rolled dough in half, then press it again. Repeat this four times in order to further knead the dough and achieve the proper consistency.
4. Then, gradually press the dough to your desired consistency. On my pasta maker, for lasagna noodles, I use the second to thinnest setting. Repeat and continue until all of the dough is pressed into lasagna noodles.




Finally…

Queen Honeybea’s
Vegetable Lasagna

One pound of fresh lasagna noodles
3 cups homemade tomato sauce
2 cups cooked vegetable filling
2 cups fresh, homemade ricotta
1 cup shredded fresh local melting cheese (I used Laurel Valley Creamery’s Havarti), divided
1 local, free-range egg
½ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. black pepper
¼ tsp. freshly ground nutmeg
2 TBS. locally produced 2% milk
1 TBS. local, raw honey

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees. Cook the lasagna noodles in batches, lifting them out of the water when they’ve reached al dente, then draining and cooling them flat in a large colander so they don’t stick together. At full boil, they should take between 2 and 4 minutes to cook to al dente.
2. Grease a 9 x 13 inch casserole pan, or metal or glass pan. Ladle a 1/3 cup of tomato sauce onto the bottom of the greased pan. Then lay out one layer of lasagna noodles.
3. Make the ricotta filling by combining the ricotta cheese, 2/3 cup of the shredded melting cheese, the egg, salt, pepper, nutmeg, milk and honey. Mix until well combined and creamy.

4. Top the lasagna noodles in the pan with half of the ricotta filling. Then top the ricotta filling with half of the cooked vegetable filling. Top with 1 cup of tomato sauce and another layer of lasagna noodles.
5. Repeat with the rest of the ricotta, and vegetable filling and one more cup of sauce. Top again with lasagna noodles. On top of the very last layer of lasagna noodles, pour the remaining 2/3 cup of sauce. Cover tightly with foil and bake at 375 degrees for 30 minutes.
6. Remove the foil and top the lasagna with the remaining 1/3 cup of shredded melting cheese. Cover again with foil and return to the oven for 15 more minutes, until the lasagna is bubbling and the cheese is melted. Serve hot.



Makes one 9x13 inch lasagna. Remember to buy local.