Breakfast

Vegan roasted vegetable lasagna.

Why vegan? We had a client request a vegan dinner party because one of the guests was--you guessed it--a vegan. We wondered why the host insisted on subjecting his entire guest list to vegan food when just one of them professed to eat no animal products. In our book, you feed everyone else the usual way and make one vegan plate. But this particular host did not want the vegan to feel singled out. Thus, vegan lasagna.

It was preceeded by a lovely fall salad and served with our own roasted sweet potatoes with caramelized shallots. Dessert was pears poached in a Gewurztraminer syrup. A lovely meal, with a couple of servings of lasagna left over.

I make this very much the same way as our normal roasted vegetable lasagna except no cheese. Peel two medium eggplant and slice lengthwise into 1/4-inch thicknesses. Cut about four zucchini and four summer squash the same way. Cut two red onions into 1/2 rings. Spread everything on baking sheets, brush everything with extra-virgin olive oil, season with salt and pepper and roast until the vegetables are bubbling and just beginning to brown. No doubt you will need to do this in batches.

Then simply spread a thin layer of marinara sauce on the bottom of a Pyrex baking dish (or something similar), cover with lasagna noodles (my wife cooked eggless noodles for this, otherwise I use no-boil noodles) and start layering the vegetables (chop the onion rounds into pieces) and repeat until you've filled the pan. We also inserted some store-bought roasted red peppers. Over each layer, scatter some chopped fresh marjoram or basil. Marjoram gives the lasagna an assertive, densely herbacious flavor that I particularly like.

My fear was that without the cheese the lasagna would just fall apart before it got to the plates. But somehow it holds together. And it is exceptionally delicious--even reheated several days later for breakfast.

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

This is a perfect time of year for roasted vegetables. Making lasagna with them can be quite a process. But there's a payoff in the end: lots of food, either for a crowd or to freeze for later.

This particular lasagna is time consuming but not difficult. All it really takes is a little knife skill to cut eggplant and zucchini into thin slices. These are layered with a mix of roasted red onion and goat cheese, seasoned with one of my favorite herbs, marjoram, which we just happen to have growing in abundance outside our front door.

This recipe will fill a standard Pyrex baking dish, meaning a dozen adult servings. You'll need two pounds of eggplant, two pounds of zucchini, three medium red onions, six ounces of goat cheese, three cups of marinara sauce and lasagna noodles. (I used no-boil noodles from Whole Foods, but don't be shy about making your own.)

Heat the oven to 500 degrees. Trim and peel the eggplant, then slice it lengthwise into 1/4-inch pieces. Salt them generously on both sides and place in a colander to drain for 30 minutes. Squeeze them dry between sheets of paper towel.

Lay the eggplant slices on a baking sheet, brush them on both sides with extra-virgin olive oil and season with pepper. Place them in the oven and cook until they are starting to brown. Slice the zucchini lengthwise into 1/4-inch pieces, brush with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast them also until starting to brown. Peel the onions and cut them into thick rings. Toss them with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Spread them on a baking sheet and roast as you have the eggplant and zucchini.

When the onions are cool enough to handle, chop them roughly and mix with the goat cheese. Spread some marinara sauce on the bottom of your lasagna pan and cover with lasagna noodles. Layer some eggplant and zucchini over the noodles, dot with the onion-goat cheese mix and pour another layer of marinara sauce. Season with chopped fresh marjoram.

Add more layers until you've run out of ingredients or filled your pan, whichever comes first. Lower the oven to 375 degrees and put in your lasagna--it's a good idea to have a baking sheet underneath to catch any drippings. Bake until the the noodles are completely cooked through and the vegetables are bubbling,l about one hour. Before pulling it from the oven, grate some Pecorino cheese generously over the top and cook a few minutes more.

Serve this with a fresh fall salad and your favorite red wine.

Breakfast: Greens Squared

You knew it was coming, didn't you?

The mustard greens we braised on Thursday are even better two days later. Turns out my 8 1/2-inch square baking pan makes nine portions of lasagna with rutabaga greens. So this morning, I am looking at greens every which way.

And the best part may be, these were all planted last fall and they're still feeding us. Let's hear it for overwintered vegetables!

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Shopping: none

A here's the kicker: there's more where that came from.

Lasagna with Rutabaga Greens

When I recently harvested the rutabaga that had overwintered in the garden I faced a terrible dilemma: What to do with the greens?

I hate to throw away any kind of food and I just assumed the green leafy parts of the rutabaga would be tough and bitter. But a funny thing happened on the way to the compost pile. I tasted one of the leaves and was bowled over by how tender and mild it was.

Could it be that I was looking at a meal of rutabaga greens, planted seven months earlier?

I cooked the greens in the usual manner in boiling salted water. There were a lot of greens. One batch I left plain. For another, I seasoned the water with cider vinegar. I tried to think of some ingenious use for these greens. And then I remembered a comment from Charlotte over on the Great Big Vegetable Challenge blog in response to my butternut squash lasagna. She had liked that lasagna so much, she wondered if there were any other vegetables that might benefit from the same treatment.

Why not rutabaga greens?

In fact, they make a great substitute for spinach. So if you have a favorite spinach lasagna recipe, consider making it with rutabaga greens instead.

For the filling, I mixed a cup of cooked rutabaga greens, finely chopped, with two cups of ricotta cheese and two beaten eggs. Season to taste with salt, nutmeg and freshly ground black pepper. Meanwhile, in a heavy skillet over low heat, sweat half an onion, diced small, in some extra-virgin olive oil until soft, about 10 minutes, then add two finely chopped garlic cloves. Continue cooking until the garlic is cooked through. Stir this into the greens/cheese mixture.

To make a sauce, melt two tablespoon butter and stir in two tablespoons all-purpose flour. Cook the flour over moderately-low heat for three or four minutes, then begin whisking in milk, two cups total. Season with salt and about 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg. Cook until sauce is bubbling and thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. If too thick, add more milk.

To assemble the lasagna, I used a non-stick baking pan 8 1/2 inches square and 2 1/2 inches deep. Grease with canola spray, then coat the bottom with some of the sauce and cover with no-boil lasagna noodles (or the noodles of your choice). Spread some of the greens/cheese mix over the noodles, drizzle with sauce, then dust with grated Parmesan cheese and grated mozzarella. Continue the layering process until the ingredients are used up, making sure to save some of the sauce and cheese for the top.

Put the pan on a baking sheet and place in a 350-degree oven. Bake until the top is golden and bubbly.

You will be so glad you didn't throw your rutabaga greens in the compost.

Dark Days: Butternut Squash Lasagna

No, this is not an April Fool's joke. I really am writing about squash in April.

But when you think about it, winter squashes will store for such a long time they could almost be considered a spring vegetable. Especially this time of year we need every bit of vegetable goodness we can get: We've used up almost everything that overwintered in the garden, and it will be weeks before any of our new crops are ready to harvest.

So we walked to the farmer's market and bought almost everything we needed for this lasagna: the squash, the ricotta, the mozzarella. It made our hearts beat just a little faster knowing we could purchase such fabulous ingredients from local farmers within range of our home here in the District of Columbia.

But there's another compelling reason to write about butternut squash. Our friends Charlotte and Freddie at the Great Big Vegetable Challenge blog continue to work their way through the vegetable alphabet, searching for recipes with kid appeal. Their challenge to us: come up with a squash recipe Freddie will love.

Well, the first thing that came to mind was spaghetti squash with vegetarian marinara sauce. It's one of our favorite ways to enjoy squash--a lot like conventional spaghetti--but I thought the occasion called for something with a little more pizazz. Acorn squash glazed with pomegranate is a quick and elegant side dish. But it's almost too easy. And then I remembered this decadent, totally elegant butternut squash lasagna.

This is neither quick, nor something you will want to attempt every night.

In fact, you will get a few pots and pans dirty making this lasagna. You may even have to save a few pennies for the fresh ricotta and mozzarella cheese. And if you are obsessed with calories and cholesterol, you may want to substitute low-fat versions of the ricotta, the mozzarella and the milk.

This is probably unlike most lasagnas you've had before. Not only is the creamy, butternutty filling a surprise, but the seasonings--fennel, cinnamon, garlic, sage--are more like something out of a Renaissance cookbook. Read the recipe through completely to get your bearings. Basically you make a filling with roasted squash, ricotta, fennel, cinnamon and sage. Then you make a sauce with butter, flour, milk, garlic and more sage. Finally you layer everything in a casserole using your favorite lasagna noodles (I used no-boil, simply because there is plenty of work to do elsewhere without having to cook pasta as well) plus some grated mozzarella and Parmesan.

This lasagna makes six generous portions, and some of those can be divided for children. I make mine in a non-stick metal pan 8 1/2 inches square and 2 1/2 inches deep. Getting individual slices of the pie out of the pan can be tricky. Consider making the lasagna a day or two ahead and refrigerating it. This would give the incredible flavors time to meld, and it would be a simple matter of removing the whole pie from the pan, slicing it into individual pieces and reheating them for dinner (or breakfast, or lunch).

For the squash filling:

1 medium butternut squash, about 2 pounds
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 teaspoons fresh sage, finely chopped
1 teaspoon ground fennel
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
1 large egg

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit (the Brits will have to make a conversion).

Trim about 1/2 inch from the top and bottom of the squash. Use a vegetable peeler to remove the skin. Cut the squash in half lengthwise, remove the seeds, then cut the halves into 1-inch pieces. Toss these in a bowl with the olive oil, sage, fennel, cinnamon, salt, pepper and nutmeg. Spread the squash on a baking sheet and roast for about 45 minutes, or until the squash is completely cooked through.

Place the squash in a food processor (or do this in a bowl with a potato masher) and blend with the ricotta, the grated Parmesan and the egg. Place in the refrigerator to cool.

For the sauce:

1 quart milk
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons sage, finely chopped
1 teaspoon salt
freshly ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 cup all-purpose flour

In a saucepan, heat the milk until it is steaming, but do not boil

In a separate saucepan, melt the butter over moderate heat, then add the garlic and sage and cook a minute or two. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring frequently, for three or four minutes to make a roux. Begin adding hot milk to the roux, a ladle full at a time. Stir continuously as the sauce begins to bubble and thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat.

For final assembly:

Greased casserole or pan
8 ounces no-boil lasagna noodles (or substitute your choice cooked noodles)
8 ounces grated mozzarella cheese
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan

Set oven to 375 degrees

Now it's time to put everything together. You'll make about four layers, so be sure to have some of the mozzarella and Parmesan for each layer as well as the top.

Start by ladling enough of the sauce to cover the bottom of your pan or casserole. Cover the sauce with noodles (some may need to be cut to fit). Use a spatula to spread a layer of squash mixture over the noodles, then ladle some sauce over the squash and dust with mozzarella and Parmesan. Repeat until you reach almost to the top of the pan or casserole--or run out of ingredients, which ever comes first. Ladle the last of the sauce over the top and finish with a dusting of more cheese.

Cover the pan with aluminum foil, place on a baking sheet and put it in the oven to bake for one hour. Remove the foil and bake an additional 15 minutes. The top of the lasagna should be bubbly and lightly browned. If not, set it under the broiler for a minute or two.

Add a fresh green salad and a cold glass of a buttery Chardonnay and you have dinner.

Breakfast

Spinach and mushroom lasagna.

Preparation time: 3 minutes

Shopping: none

Months ago we made a pan of lasagna to take to client dinners just in case someone requested a vegetarian entree. I cut the lasagna into large slices and stashed them in the freezer. Up they popped during my recent freezer clean-out. I figured they were too old to pass as client food anymore.

I moved them to the fridge to defrost. Now they serve admirably as a quick breakfast after a couple of minutes in the microwave. It was a very simple lasagna with no particular recipe: sauteed mushrooms, frozen spinach, ricotta and mozzarella cheeses, a bechamel sauce and nutmeg.

Quite delicious, even months later.