THE BIG LASAGNA
by
Walt

In the fall of 1987, I was at the Harriman House in Harriman, NY for a Columbia University Business School retreat. I don’t remember much about what was taught that week, but I do remember eating a nice vegetarian lasagna ( for an institutional setting). I came home and decided to make my own version of vegetarian lasagna.

Never having had the Italian Grandmother that I had always wished for, nor having had an extensive Italian cooking background, I made the lasagne how I thought it should be made. Strangely, without using garlic.

In graduate school at U of M, I had made what became known as “Walt’s Fireghetti”, a homemade spaghetti sauce with a base of seasoned, sweated onions and mushrooms. That base seemed fabulous for lots of things like spaghetti and stroganoff, so I used that as a jumping off point for the lasagna. Next I added zucchini and green and red peppers to the sweating onion mixture. After adding those vegetables, the resulting liquid in the pan was extremely flavorful. (It could be reduced and added back in, or it could be enjoyed by the chef, sopping it up with crusty bread.) It always seemed like the ricotta layer in lasagna was quite flavorless. So, my solution was to add all the softened, seasoned vegetables that had just been sweated down, to the ricotta along with an egg to hold it all together.

My family enjoyed the lasagna (once the kids were over the age of 16). When I didn’t have mushrooms on hand to use however, Paula and the kids liked it even better. One year, many years ago, I made it for a family gathering in La Canada, California at Thanksgiving time. (One of my nephews, Brian, still makes his own version for his family).

Twenty four years after that first aha moment at Harriman House, still never having gained an Italian Grandmother and facing the escalating price of prime ingredients, it was expedient to use second tier ingredients. Instead of using only the best stuff ( aside from the fresh vegetables), like De Cecco pasta, fresh mozzarella, and Parmesano Reggiano, I used second tier ingredients, such as Barilla pasta and Argentinean Parmesan.

Since Italian cooking is the cooking of Grandmothers and consists of time, texture and tasting (i.e. knowing when things are right), the only way to pass that on is by cooking together.
I think it helped that when I was dating Paula, I cooked for her. And it has certainly helped her to keep me around, because I cook to entertain her. So, since Parry needs help in the area of attracting a wife, we made “Second Tier Lasagna” together while he was home for Christmas.




Here then is the original recipe for
WALT’S VEGETARIAN LASAGNA:

Lasagne Noodles
1 pint container of ricotta cheese
1 egg, lightly beaten
1 pound Kraft brand part skim mozzarella cheese, grated
1 to 1 ½ jars of Newman’s Sockarooni Spaghetti Sauce or your favorite Spaghetti Sauce
1 large onion, diced
2 medium zucchini, washed and chopped into ½ inch cubes
2 medium red and green peppers, washed, cored, seeded and diced into ½ inch cubes
olive oil
Knorr vegetable or chicken bullion cube
Salt and Pepper
Parmesan cheese, finely grated
9x13 inch glass or lasagne pan

1. Boil 12 noodles in a large pot of boiling, salted water until cooked but still firm. Drain and lay on paper towel to dry and cool.
2. Heat about 1/4 cup olive oil in a 16 “ saute pan over medium heat. Add onion and lower heat. Sweat onion about 15 minutes. Add peppers and sweat 2 to 3 minutes. Season with chicken or vegetable bullion cube (not diluted). Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
3. In a separate medium saute pan, heat 2 Tbs olive oil over medium heat. Add the zucchini and saute until lightly browned. Season with salt and pepper. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
4. In a medium bowl mix ricotta and egg til blended.
5. Gently fold in cooked and cooled vegetables to ricotta cheese mixture. Don’t worry if it seems a little salty, the ricotta can use the saltiness.

To Assemble:
1. Spread a small amount of spaghetti sauce in bottom of pan.
2. Lay 3 noodles (or as many as needed to cover bottom of pan) side by side. Spread sauce over noodles just enough to cover.
3. Spread 1/3 of the ricotta mixture over the noodles.
4. Sprinkle 1/3 of the mozzarella cheese next.
5. Repeat layering as in steps 1-4 above 2 more times. Ending with noodles. Do not put sauce on top layer of noodles.
6. Cover with plenty of plastic wrap and weigh down with books or weights to compress layers. If made the day before, refrigerate until ready to bake.
7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
8. Remove weights and plastic wrap. Cover top of noodles with plenty of spaghetti sauce.
Bake for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese or additional mozzarella if desired, to cover and bake another 15 minutes. Let sit for 10-15 minutes before serving.