White Lasagna

[plumtreeblossom]

Last night I made my first white lasagna. I'd been trying to come up with some hearty pasta dishes to make for beowabbit, who Does Not Do Tomatoes. I'd never seen an alfredo-based lasagna and basically came up with the concept on my own, though investigation proved that it's actually an existing and well-loved dish.

Far be it from me to actually use a recipe -- I made it with lasagna noodles, alfredo-pesto sauce, ricotta, parm, mozz, mushrooms, sauteed onions and red bell peppers, and crumbled sweet Italian sausage.

Pretty good for a freshman effort, but for future tweaking, it needs more cowbell. It's a good mild base, but could be improved by the addition of:

More garlic
White pepper (I didn't have any)
Artichoke hearts
Olives
Maybe spinach
Maybe asparagus tips

Folks over at food_porn encouraged eggplant, but I'm not a fan and I don't think he is either. I think I would swap out the sweet Italian sausage for seasoned ground beef, but I'm not sure what seasonings.

I love cooking for my sweetiedarling. If I make this again (perhaps for a pot luck?) maybe I'll have the Wabbit help so he can learn lasagna architecture. It's a fun dish to build, such that when you're done, you have the uncontainable urge to stretch out your arms and sing "TA DA!" even if you're all by yourself.

Comments

[mindflankr.livejournal.com]

I would definitely add the spinach to your ricotta (if you also add one egg, it will give the ricotta a nice texture).

More cow bell sounds like you might need a bit of acidity to balance out the creaminess of your dish. Here are two suggestions for that.....

1- When caramelizing your onions or garlic or whatever veggies you are adding, add a healthy splash of something acidic (like lemon or vinegar)

2- This is a trick I use whenever preparing any sort of pasta with a cream sauce. After cooking the pasta, toss it with a bit of simple vinaigrette. This will help your pasta from sticking together and give it the zing that is sometimes missing with a cream sauce.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Yes, it definitely needed so acidity to balance the creaminess. I love the idea of mixing the spinach with the lasagna. Do you cook the spinach first before mixing it in?

Vinagarette is a good idea too. And I will never let my house be without white pepper again! :-)

[sideshowbennie.livejournal.com]

I would use frozen spinach, thawed then drained and pressed so all the moisture is out and chopped finely. It would eliminate the need to cook it.

Also, if you are feeling adventurous, and you like it, grill and the finely chop some fennel bulbs and add it in a very thin layer. You could possibly even combine it in the layer with the meat which may be the best option if you decide to use it. It would give it a zing.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

I can't recall if I've ever eaten fennel... is it from the onion family?

[sideshowbennie.livejournal.com]

I am not sure which family it comes from. It has an anise/liquorice flavor that gets a bit milder when they are grilled.

When I make regular, tomatoe based lasagna, I always sprinkle some fennel seeds over the top layer of cheese so they bake and brown with the cheese. Delicious

[bedfull-o-books.livejournal.com]

I, on the other hand, really hate fennel. (Although I like anise, go figure. Perhaps it's that whole licorice with meat thing that gets me down.)

Try the fennell before using it in a recipe, just in case....

[sideshowbennie.livejournal.com]

Oh I totally agree with you on that. If you have never tried it, definitely give it a taste before you screw up a recipe by finding out, after the fact, that you hate it.

I love it but it is definitely an acquired taste...

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, I used to take fennel as a medicinal herb and drink a tea made of powdered fennel. It did indeed have an anise flavor. I've had it minced finely on salad, too. I like the idea of the seeds on the cheese. Wabbit loves licorice flavored things, too. :-)

[beowabbit]

Wabbit loves licorice flavored things, too. :-)

I was just about to comment to say how much I love anise and fennel, but I see I don’t need to. :-)

[komos.livejournal.com]

Your kung fu is strong.