Springy Lasagna

 A couple of days ago I spent over an hour prepping a lovely spring lasagna.... I think that merits a blog post.  Also, I just don't post enough on here so it seems like a good excuse to add another post to my poor, lonely, neglected bloggy-blog.

So, here we go.

I bought a bunch of super skinny asparagus, which was the inspiration for the dish.  I also got a nice yellow squash, a zucchini, and a shallot to add to the Springtime vibe I was going for.

First, I boiled the lasagna noodles according to the package directions.  I sliced the zucchini and yellow squash on an angle to get nice big oval shaped discs, and sauteed them with olive oil and a couple of cloves of chopped fresh garlic.  Once they were nearly cooked through, I transferred them to a bowl and then used the same garlicky-oily pan to briefly sautee the asparagus (just for a couple of minutes to get them started before they hit the oven).  I transferred them to a separate plate and then got to work on the sauce.

At some point here the noodles finished cooking (cooked to al dente so they could finish in the oven), so I drained them and separated them from each other a bit so they wouldn't form a big noodle clump while I was still working on the other components.

Ok, sauce.  I diced the shallots, plopped them into the same pan I used for the veg, and added about 2T butter.  When the shallots were translucent, I added 2T of flour and cooked while stirring continuously for a couple of minutes.  Then, I poured in some whole milk (didn't measure, just added as much as I thought seemed right.... hopefully you can do the same.) and whisked to combine everything.  Once it hit a simmer I reduced the heat, added salt and pepper, and let it sit on med-low heat for a few minutes to thicken up.

Once all of the components were cooked and ready, I assembled my masterpiece.  The first thing into my lightly sprayed lasagna pan was a ladle-full of the bechamel sauce.  Next, 4 of the cooked lasagna noodles, slightly overlapping, and then another one (torn to fit) along the top because the noodles aren't as long as the pan.  The first veggie layer was the squash.  Even though it wasn't visible, I got all shmancy and alternated rows of zucchini and yellow squash to form that layer.  Then I sprinkled on some chopped fresh Italian parsley and some chopped sun-dried tomatoes (from a bag, not soaked in oil but not crispy... kind of like raisins).

After that I added the cheese layer.  I mixed 1 whole egg with 1/2 a small container of ricotta and added dollops of that all over the top of the veggies.  Then, I sprinkled grated mozzerella on top.

Next another layer of noodles, then more sauce, then the asparagus.  I trimmed it so it was shorter than I would have if I was serving it on it's own, and then arranged it so that there were asparagus tips on both of the outer sides and the stem sides all met in the middle.

I added another ladle full of sauce on top of the asparagus, then a bit more mozzarella and another layer of cheese.  Last layer was just noodles, sauce, mozzarella.  I baked it at 350 covered for about 25 minutes, then took off the cover and baked another 20.  It was delicious!