Asparagus Lasagna

 I spotted a recipe for asparagus lasagna on the food.com website. What turns me off about lasagna is having to boil the noodles. I think that’s a pain in the neck and I’m too old, at this point, to be irritated. That’s why, I no longer boil lasagna noodles, I buy the oven ready noodles. Oven ready noodles work wonderfully well when your lasagna is going to be baked for an hour or longer. They do NOT work when your lasagna is only to be baked 30 minutes or less. That’s why, any lasagna that is going to be baked for a short period of time, and makes use of oven ready noodles, needs to be made a day ahead and stored in the fridge. That way the noodles will soak up the sauce and turn out perfectly when you bake them the next day. If you are a noodle boiler, feel free to use boiled noodles for this recipe, eliminate the refrigeration step, and just head to the whipped cream/Parmesan topping and bake. This goes together easily and it's really delicious.

Asparagus Lasagna
Adapted from food.com

2 lbs. fresh asparagus, pencil thin, trimmed*
1-2 T. olive oil
Kosher salt
¼ c. butter
¼ c. flour
2 c. chicken broth
1 c. shredded low-fat mozzarella cheese
1 c. shredded Gruyere cheese
1 T. finely grated lemon zest (Don’t skimp here)
Few gratings fresh nutmeg
Oven ready lasagna noodles
1 2/3 c. grated Parmesan
1 c. whipping cream

Preheat oven to 500° F.

Place asparagus on a foil-lined baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, toss to coat, and spread out in a thin layer. Roast 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven, sprinkle with salt, cut into bite-size pieces, and let cool.

In a large pot, melt butter over medium heat. Add flour, and whisk for about 2 to 3 minutes. Slowly add chicken broth to flour/butter mixture, whisking constantly. Bring to a simmer and cook 3 to 5 minutes. Add mozzarella, Gruyere, and lemon zest, stirring until the mixture is smooth.

Spray a 9“ x 9“ baking pan. Place a layer of noodles in the pan, then half of the sauce, then half of the asparagus pieces, and then 1/2 cup Parmesan. Repeat this layer (noodles/sauce/asparagus/parmesan) and then put on a final top layer of noodles.

Cover and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat oven to 400° F.

In a small bowl combine cream and a dash of salt. Whip until soft peaks form and then spoon over noodles, spreading to the edges. Sprinkle with remaining 2/3 cup Parmesan cheese . Bake 20 to 25 minutes until the top is golden brown and the edges are bubbling. Remove from oven and let set for 15 minutes before slicing.

*Trimming asparagus is easy because asparagus tells you where it would like to be trimmed. Simply grab one and in your left hand, the other end in your right hand, and bend. It will snap at the perfect point so that you will never have woody asparagus stems again.

 

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