Last week I stayed with my son and his fiancée on their farm in northern Maine. As usual when I visit, dinner becomes a food fest as well as a social adventure: (among others) he also has a graduate degree from a culinary institute and cooks like a dream come true.
These two are believers of organic produce; most comes from the garden the woman of the house manages (she also does all the carpentry etc.). On the other hand, preparing food is his department and well worth the trade off. At least, both seem to do very well with this arrangement! Ah, to be young again: They are full time graduate students at university, have jobs on the side and run the farm. Not much leisure time here!
This week is dedicated to vegetarian dishes; today will be the first one: Rolled Lasagna with fresh ricotta and smoked mozzarella
Now, you can make the Lasagna from scratch, but today that step was skipped. The ricotta cheese is made on the premises however, and here is a link to how it is done:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIEJW0Nz6_c
With that out of the way and a glass of wine to make the work go easy, marinate your tomatoes, start the onions & garlic in your sauté pan and brown them till the onions are translucent.
Your oven should be ready by now at 375 degrees for the baking dish (make sure you sprayed the bottom). Add the six Lasagna noodles, rolled and folded (like egg rolls) one at the time, laid seam down and covered with the remaining goodies. Tin foil on top, bake for 15 minutes, foil off and brown the cheese on top for another 10-15.
Now, you can of course do this the more traditional way, layering lasagna, ricotta, veggies, sauce, lasagna etc. again till you run out of ingredients. This method however, is an efficient and quick way to do the same, with each service ready for your plate and no messy cutting to make equal portions.
Well here is the plated result:
It tasted as good as it looks, and while way too much food (one noodle/”eggroll” was more than enough), next day lunch was all the better for it! Try it, you’ll like it, I guarantee.
I provided the wine and the company, bon appétit,
Dr T