After I made the Four Cheese Lasagna, I found myself with some leftover no-cook lasagna sheets. I also had in the fridge some leftover ricotta, gruyere and other bits of cheeses. And in the freezer some frozen jarred marinara sauce. So clearly, the thought of improvising a lasagna dish entered my mind.
When the time came to actually make the lasagna, I found that I lacked a number of ingredients I thought I would put in the lasagna, including frozen spinach and other vegetables. So I ended up just pulling random ingredients from the kitchen together to make what I thought would be aptly named "kitchen sink" lasagna. To my surprise, the casserole ended up tasting pretty good - so maybe lasagna will be a good way to use up leftovers in the future!
My improvised recipe follows the picture of the completed lasagna dish.
Kitchen Sink Lasagna
Ingredients:
- 5 no-boil lasagna noodle sheets
- 1 cup low-fat ricotta
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1.5 cups of frozen, jarred spicy marinara sauce (thawed)
- 3/4 cup frozen cauliflower, partially steamed
- 1/2 cup frozen corn, partially steamed
- 1/2 shallot, minced
- 1 cup grated emmentaler
- 1/4 cup grated gruyere
- 1/4 cup grated parmesan
- 1 slice of pepper jack (from deli), broken up
- 1 tbsp. (approx.) heavy cream
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- Crushed red pepper
- Salt and pepper
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Place the lasagna sheets in a pan with warm water for 2 - 3 minutes. Move the sheets periodically to ensure they do not stick to each other.
- Combine the ricotta, heavy cream, minced garlic from 1 clove, and crushed red pepper (to taste) in a small bowl. Salt and pepper to season.
- Heat olive oil in a small saucepan on medium heat. Add remaining garlic and shallot and saute until fragrant. Then add partially steamed cauliflower and corn and cook until vegetables are fully cooked -- approximately 5 minutes.
- In baking pan, spoon in some of the marinara sauce to lightly coat the bottom of the pan. Then place first lasagna sheet, and layer with ricotta mixture, vegetable mixture, a combination of the grated emmentaler and gruyere and marinara. Repeat as necessary (I made three layers).
- On top of lasagna, sprinkle parm and pepper jack cheese.
- Bake for 30 minutes or until cooked through, rotating once halfway during the baking process.
- Then place dish under broiler for 1.5 minutes or until cheese is slightly browned and bubbly.
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