Remember when I told you guys I was all in on cooking summer food until snow rolls around? Well I wasn’t playing around, and what better way to mix comfort food with seasonal eating than with a Roasted Summer Vegetable Lasagna.
Now just to throw a warning at everyone up front, like any lasagna, this one is a labor of love. It’s not a quick and easy recipe, but it’s recipes like this that make me love cooking so much. When you’re done making a beautiful lasagna that takes time and effort and tastes delicious, you end up with a true sense of accomplishment and it makes the recipe even better!
This lasagna is filled with layers of different roasted vegetables, a sweet delicious tomato sauce and creamy ricotta cheese. For the roasted vegetables I used zucchini, eggplant and my personal favorite, roasted red peppers, basically the most versatile ingredient of all time.
The ricotta sauce here is phenomenal. It’s mixed with delicious sauteed spinach and then mixed with fresh herbs and lemon juice to give it a unique taste.
This is a perfect dish to make when you want to have a special evening in! It’s beautiful, delicious, filling and pairs well with basically any wine. So grab some friends or a date and get cooking!
Lots of Love,
Jackie
Roasted Summer Vegetable Lasagna
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 1 hour 30 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 45 mins
- Yield: 15 slices 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: Comfort Food, Italian, Pasta, Vegetarian
Description
Gorgeous summer vegetable lasagna with layers of roasted zucchini and eggplant, creamy ricotta cheese and a delightful (almost) homemade tomato sauce. Comfort food at its finest.
Ingredients
- Filling
- 3 zucchini, sliced at a diagonal
- 2 medium eggplant, sliced into rounds
- 2 red bell peppers, sliced in half longways and seeded
- pinches of salt and pepper
- 2 tsp dry thyme
- 2 tsp dry oregano
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 1 box lasagna noodles
- 1 cup mozzarella cheese
- 1 cup Parmesan cheese
- Tomato Sauce
- 2 tbsp salted butter
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 shallots, sliced thin
- 1 tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 red bell pepper, finely diced
- 1/4 cup dry red wine
- 1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
- 1 16 oz can tomato sauce
- 1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
- 2 tsp dry oregano
- 2 tsp dry thyme
- Ricotta Cheese Sauce
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 3 cups spinach, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp each salt and pepper
- 2 cups ricotta cheese
- 1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
- 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
- 1 lemon, juice and zest
Instructions
- Start by prepping the vegetable filling. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. On separate baking sheets, toss the eggplant and zucchini slices each with generous pinches of salt and pepper, 1 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp oregano and 1 tsp thyme. On another baking sheet, rub the red peppers with the remaining olive oil and a pinch of salt and pepper.
- You’re going to bake all three vegetables at 350, taking turns if you have to. My oven only holds 2 pans at a time so I did the zucchini and the eggplant first and then moved on to the red peppers because they take a little more time. You’re going to bake the eggplant and zucchini for 10 minutes and the red peppers for 15.
- When the veggies are done cooking you can set them aside. Let the red peppers cook and scrape their skin off with a small pairing knife.
- While the veggies are in the oven you can start on the Lasagna noodles and sauce. For the noodles, bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the noodles till al dente. Drain and set aside. You’ll want to toss them in a bit of olive oil when you set them aside or they’ll stick to each other.
- To make the sauce, melt the butter in a large pan. Add in the garlic, shallots and red pepper flakes. Once the shallots become translucent and fragrant, add in the red bell peppers and cook for 5 minutes or until they start to cook down. Next pour in the red wine and stir for 2 minutes until it reduces by half. Add in the remaining ingredients and whisk to combine. Bring the sauce to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 20 minutes or until you’re ready to assemble the lasagna.
- In another sauce pan, heat 1 tbsp of olive oil. Add in the spinach and garlic and cook until wilted. Transfer to a medium size bowl and add in the remaining ingredients for the Ricotta cheese sauce. Stir until combined and set aside.
- When all the ingredients are ready to be assembled, take a 9×13 casserole dish and spoon a little bit of sauce onto the bottom. Add a layer of noodles, spread spoonfuls of the ricotta cheese on top of the noodles, then top with the eggplant and more sauce. Repeat another layer using the zucchini, then another layer using the roasted red peppers.
- After the red pepper, place another layer of noodles, then cheese, then sauce and one more layer of noodles. Top with the remaining sauce and cover with the mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Bake in the oven for 45 minutes until the top starts to bubble and brown.
Notes
*A hot tip to cut down on time here, start on the sauce, cheese and noodles while the veggies are in the oven, this will give your sauce enough time to simmer while the veggies finish cooking and cool slightly.
*The red wine is fully optional, you can skip it
*If you can find the no-cook noodles, that will cut down on time and effort as well
