More stuck-together-food. With fresh (or frozen) garden tomatoes, the natural sweetness can be overpowered by meat, so we make a rich vegetarian lasagna. Brown rice noodles work best when pre-cooked only long enough to be flexible, so it is important to ensure there’s enough moisture in the lasagna to prevent the noodles from drying out. If you find your sauce is not liquid enough and your noodles are beginning to buckle, take the pan out of the oven and sprinkle some water (preferably reserved pasta-cooking water) on top.
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium zucchini, diced small (or one small eggplant, peeled and diced small)
200 g mushrooms, diced small (portobello mushrooms are ideal)
1 good-sized red pepper, diced small
1 hot pepper, minced (optional)
1/2 tsp salt
1 lg. can tomatoes (or equivalent frozen homegrown tomatoes), broken up with spoon
1 small can (6 oz) tomato paste
1 tbsp dried basil (or 1/4 cup fresh chopped)
2 tsp dried oregano (or 2 tbsp fresh chopped)
1/2 tsp dried thyme (or 2 tsp fresh chopped)
lots of freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp balsamic or red wine vinegar
1 tsp brown sugar
18 oz brown rice lasagna noodles (a box and a half of the brand I buy)
1 400 g pkg mozzarella cheese, grated
1 500 g pkg cottage cheese
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
10 oz fresh spinach, stems removed, leaves washed and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
freshly ground black pepper
In hot oil in a heavy-bottomed pot or pan, sauté the chopped onion and garlic 5 minutes. Add the zucchini (or eggplant), mushrooms, and red pepper and sauté an additional 5 minutes, until vegetables are just beginning to be tender. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, herbs, vinegar, and sugar, and stir, breaking up tomatoes with a spoon or snipping them with scissors as needed. Simmer for a good long while, until slightly reduced and thickened. When you draw a spoon across the bottom of the pan, you want the sauce to fill in the gap in about 5 to 7 seconds.
In a pot with plenty of boiling water, precook lasagna noodles until pliable enough to handle and to shape easily into the pan, but not tender, a maximum of five minutes.
Skim some juicy sauce off the top and moisten the entire bottom of a 9x13” baking pan until well-coated with sauce. Spread on a layer of the lightly precooked lasagna noodles. Trim noodles with scissors as needed to make them fit snugly. Top with 1/2 the sauce and 1/2 the mozzarella cheese.
Add another layer of lasagna noodles. Cover with spinach, pressing down so it doesn’t fall out of the pan. Spread the spinach with the whole container of cottage cheese, grind on lots of black pepper, sprinkle with freshly grated nutmeg, then top with another layer of noodles, again trimming the noodles to help them fit.
Top the noodles with remaining sauce and remaining mozzarella, and sprinkle liberally with Parmesan and more black pepper.
Bake 40 minutes at 350F.
Serves 9 to 12, depending on appetites.
