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This workhorse layered Italian casserole fulfills lots of the requirements for a Christmas Eve dinner. It can be made in advance and stays warm for hours (or is easily reheated) as stragglers come and go. Warm bread on the side and a Caesar salad are fine accompaniments. Pick up Italian pastries, cannoli for one, and set out cookies for dessert. This is a meal that can be eaten in fits and starts, or as a sit-down dinner.
This year, even if you've got a killer recipe for a meat version, consider a white lasagna, a nod to White Christmas. Homemade white sauce, or bechamel, is laced between the layers, giving the lasagna luscious richness. Today's recipes include a White Seafood Lasagna and a vegetarian Brussels Sprouts Lasagna. I am also including a Wild Mushroom Lasagna that is a showstopper.
If you are looking for wine pairings, a buttery chardonnay is perfect with the seafood casserole, and if you want red, consider merlot. Both are available at a variety of prices. The vegetarian dishes are a slightly bigger challenge. Their meaty flavor calls for a wine to match, and you'll find that with pinot noir, sangiovese and syrah/shiraz.
The vegetarian lasagnas can serve as the star of the show or a side dish to a roast of some sort. But, oh, the seafood lasagna with crab, shrimp and bay scallops woven with cheese and a garlicky white sauce. It's quite rich and filling, and tastes like a million bucks. Merry Christmas, indeed.
Roman lasagna
I may like lasagna even more than Garfield, the cartoon cat known to scarf an entire pan in one sitting.
Over a week in Rome in May, I ate lasagna four times and marveled at how different it is than what we are used to stateside. Not once did I have a three- or four-layer lasagna that was in danger of toppling because of the voluminous filling. The Roman versions were maybe a couple of layers, and the filling and cheese rather scant. These versions were more about the pasta, which was soft and clearly fresh. Maybe even housemade.
I have attempted to re-create what I had in Italy but haven't had much success, mostly because I didn't want to make my own pasta. The wide, dried noodle strips that are so prevalent here, while good in their own way, don't offer the same toothsome freshness.
Well, maybe it was just being in Rome.
For years, I have made a traditional meat lasagna that requires all-day cooking of the meat sauce. I love that recipe, but this year, I yearned for something new.
Even Garfield likes a change every now and then.
A many splendored thing
Serving seafood on Christmas Eve is an Italian tradition, with many Southern Italian and Italian-American families putting on the Feast of the Seven Fishes that night. Traditionally, seven fish dishes are served. The significance of the number has many explanations, one being that it represents the seven days of creation, including the last day of rest.
In Florida, stone crab claws frequent holiday tables, as does Dungeness crab in California. Both are in season at this time.
So White Seafood Lasagna fits right in to the holiday reverence for seafood. I particularly like this recipe because it feels so rich, worthy of a special meal. The recipe is straightforward, but it does have multiple steps, so give yourself time. Save a few cooked shrimp to garnish individual pieces, or buy a small amount of tiny cooked salad shrimp and use those slightly warm.
You could substitute large sea scallops for the smaller bay, but you should cut them in halves or thirds. Since they are generally more expensive, I opt for the bay scallops, which are just the right size for a casserole.
The Brussels Sprouts Lasagna, which includes lots of mushrooms, is an earthy melange that gets a flavor kick from aged or smoked provolone. Make sure to drain the sauteed vegetables before assembling it. Mushrooms have a high water content, and you don't want all that liquid in your lasagna or it will be runny.
Take note that the Brussels sprouts are sliced, not grated. The pieces need to still be recognizable. You should get four or five slices from each sprout.
Wild Mushroom Lasagna gets some of its oomph from reconstituted dried porcini mushrooms. Not a bit of that process is wasted, as the soaking liquid is used too. This might be the most time-consuming of the trio but the results are fabulous.
Not sure how Garfield feels about mushrooms, but maybe on Christmas Eve he'd be willing to try something new. Maybe.
Contact Janet K. Keeler at jkeeler@tampabay.com. Follow @RoadEats.
Tips for making
lasagna
• The entire dish can be made and assembled a day ahead, covered and stored in the refrigerator. Let it come to room temperature before baking by placing it on the counter for about an hour. If you put it in the oven cold it will take longer to heat, plus you risk cracking glass pans.
• No-boil noodles are time savers but I find them to be a bit gummy. You have plenty of time to cook conventional noodles while preparing fillings. I don't see the point of taking all that time to make lasagna and then using so-so noodles. For most lasagnas, it's only necessary to boil the noodles for about 5 minutes because they will cook the rest of the way in the oven.
• Take your time. I know this is the busy season and we rush around a bit, but you'll be kicking yourself if you rush through preparing a lasagna and leave out an ingredient.
• Make sure you drain any sauteed vegetables so that the finished product isn't too soupy.
• Let the lasagna sit for at least 15 minutes before cutting or the gooey cheese will run and the pieces will fall apart. Loosely tented with foil, a 9- by 13-inch pan of lasagna will still be hot an hour after it comes out of the oven.
Janet K. Keeler
Ricky Lauren's Veggie Lasagna
1 package (16 ounces) lasagna noodles
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 yellow bell pepper, diced
2 zucchini, diced
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups homemade or canned
tomato sauce
4 cups ricotta
2 cups shredded mozzarella
3 tablespoons grated Parmesan
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook pasta according to directions on package.
2. Cook peppers and zucchini in a medium saucepan with oil for 5 minutes. Stir in tomato sauce; simmer 5 minutes more.
3. Spread 1/2 cup sauce over bottom of a 13-by-9-by-3-inch baking dish. Add a layer of cooked pasta, overlapping edges. Cover pasta in a layer of ricotta and mozzarella. Then cover with sauce.
4. Repeat layers, ending with pasta. Spread remaining sauce on top and sprinkle with Parmesan.
5. Cover with foil and bake for 40 minutes. Remove foil and bake 5 minutes more.
6. Let stand for 5 minutes before serving.
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Vegetable Lasagna Recipe Vegetable Recipes 2015 in Urdu Filipino for Kids Indian Chinese Panlasang Pinoy Images Photos Pics
Vegetable Lasagna Recipe Vegetable Recipes 2015 in Urdu Filipino for Kids Indian Chinese Panlasang Pinoy Images Photos Pics
Vegetable Lasagna Recipe Vegetable Recipes 2015 in Urdu Filipino for Kids Indian Chinese Panlasang Pinoy Images Photos Pics
Vegetable Lasagna Recipe Vegetable Recipes 2015 in Urdu Filipino for Kids Indian Chinese Panlasang Pinoy Images Photos Pics
Vegetable Lasagna Recipe Vegetable Recipes 2015 in Urdu Filipino for Kids Indian Chinese Panlasang Pinoy Images Photos Pics
Vegetable Lasagna Recipe Vegetable Recipes 2015 in Urdu Filipino for Kids Indian Chinese Panlasang Pinoy Images Photos Pics
Vegetable Lasagna Recipe Vegetable Recipes 2015 in Urdu Filipino for Kids Indian Chinese Panlasang Pinoy Images Photos Pics
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