Creamy Vegetable Lasagna

👨‍🍳 Method

For the Tomato sauce

1. 1
   Preheat the oven to 180°C (355°F).

   ⚙ Preheating the OvenOven

   💡Put things in the oven only once it's reached temperature, after the heating light has gone off: an oven that hasn't reached temperature changes baking times, and the bake burns outside or stays underbaked.
2. 2
   Heat the olive oil in a pot over medium heat.

   ⚙ Pan-fryingStovePot
3. 3
   Add the onion and fry 5–8 minutes, stirring now and then, until the onion is soft and translucent and starts to turn golden at the edges. If it browns too fast, lower the heat.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove

   💡Add by cooking time: what needs long (onion, carrot, meat) goes in first, and what burns fast (garlic, dry spices) goes in last, only until fragrant.
4. 4
   Add the garlic and fry about 30 seconds to 1 minute, just until fragrant. Don't let the garlic brown.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove

   💡Garlic burns quickly and turns bitter. Add it only after the onion has softened, over medium heat, and add the next ingredient as soon as it smells fragrant.
5. 5
   Add and stir about a minute, until fragrant.

   ⚙ SimmeringStove

   💡A gentle simmer, not a boil: a hard boil dries the food out and clouds it, a slow simmer cooks it evenly.

For the Pastry Filling

1. 6
   Heat the oil in a pan and fry the mushrooms and carrot, until they soften.

   StoveFrying pan
2. 7
   Add the spinach and cook 2 minutes, until wilted.

   Stove
3. 8
   In a bowl, mix the spinach, mushrooms, carrot and ricotta.

   Bowl

For the Béchamel

1. 9
   Melt the butter in a pot over medium heat, add the flour and stir 1–2 minutes, until a smooth roux forms and starts to bubble.

   StovePot
2. 10
   Gradually add the milk, whisking constantly, and cook 5–8 minutes, until the sauce is thick and coats the back of a spoon.

   StoveWhisk

   💡Add the milk slowly, whisking constantly, so no lumps form. For lasagna, the common ratio is about 7 g flour per 100 ml milk (4 tablespoons flour to 2 cups): more flour gives a thick béchamel, for moussaka; less flour gives a soft béchamel, for a sauce.
3. 11
   Season with Nutmeg.

To assemble

1. 12
   Layer in a baking pan: the tomato sauce, the lasagna sheets, vegetable filling and béchamel, and repeat the layers once more. Finish with a layer of béchamel.

   Baking pan
2. 13
   Sprinkle the mozzarella and parmesan on top.
3. 14
   Bake 40 minutes, until the cheese is bubbling and golden.

   ⚙ BakingOvenBaking pan

   💡Check by the cue (until…), not just the clock: every oven bakes a little differently.
4. 15
   Leave the lasagna out of the oven 10 minutes, and only then cut.