Lasagna

Ingredients:

*One packet of lasagna strips

*4-5 medium portebella mushrooms

*One medium eggplant

*Two zucchinis

*One medium to large size russet potato

*One big jar of Marinara sauce or your favorite pasta sauce

*Mozzarella cheese

*Monterey jack cheese

Slice all vegetables in thin slices or long strips like lasagna shapes.  Slightly sauté all vegetables in olive oil in large fry pan or roast in your toaster oven for a few minutes.  I sautéed them all in different batches for just 2-4 minutes until they start to look slightly translucent/half way cooked. I also turned all the veggies at about a minute or two minute mark.  Make sure not to over crowd the pan and put vegetables in one layer only at each time.  Once potatoes, eggplants and zucchini are all slightly cooked you start assembling the lasagna together.
Take a big size or lasagna size baking dish. Put lasagna strips and pour hot water on top add s few drops of olive oil and leave it covered for 2 minutes then turn the lasagna strips so they don’t stick together and become soft from all sides. Take another baking pan. Butter the pan nicely from all edges.  Spread a thin layer of pasta sauce , just enough to coat the bottom slightly. Spread one layer of lasagna and put a slight layer of sauce or spread just a teaspoon of sauce on each lasagna strip.

Add a layer of eggplants and sprinkle them with salt and pepper.
Add a layer of portebella mushrooms and sprinkle salt and pepper on top.  Add a slight layer of sauce then add a layer of potatoes and sprinkle them with salt and pepper. Add a layer of zucchini and sprinkle with salt and pepper according to your taste.
Add another layer if lasagna strips on top and coat it nicely with sauce and then put cut circles of fresh mozzarella.  Grate half pack of Monterey jack on top, covering the entire top of sauce and lasagna.  Put a few little chunks of butter on top ( you can easily omit the butter but I add it because it makes the top brown beautifully and add a nice crisp taste, in fact, you don’t even have to butter the pan either in the beginning and you can add a few drips of olive oil at the bottom of the pan and spread it with a brush.

Heat the oven at 350 degrees, start baking and set the timer for 30 minutes. When your timer starts beeping, turn the oven to broil and babysit the lasagna closely until it achieves the color and crust you like on top (I like it when it turns light brown on the top:)

Note: when it comes to pizza or Lasagna then sky is the limit for your toppings or layers….I have made this same lasagna many times with ground beef or ground chicken/turkey layer too.  For your choice of meat filling, I will cook the meat in a separate pan with some olive oil, salt, Cayenne, garlic salt and black pepper.  If you want to add more flavor, add some fresh herbs or dry herbs like parsley, basil, oregano and such.  All you have to do, is add a layer in the middle with meat and top it with sauce and continue with assembling the lasagna as usual.  If you want you can change different veggies to layer or no veggies at all, just meat, sauce and lasagna noodles,  whatever your heart desires.

Finally, I wanted to apologize to my sincere readers, who look forward to reading my recipes, and my really long absence but I promise to upload two new recipes a month now 🙂

I end it as Julia Child would say, Bon Appetit 🙂