I was asked in the comments yesterday how I had the energy to put together a vegetarian lasagne for the annual Courtois holiday party when I was lying on the Green Couch sucking ice chips and feeling like you-know-what warmed over. The truth is that I didn’t put that lasagne together. I’m sure there are a few people who are relieved to hear that. The sauce was pre-made (by me, when I wasn’t sick) and frozen and I gave Mouse the directions for putting the lasagne together from my horizontal position on the couch. And so today I am posting my lasagne “recipe”. Or whatever you want to call it.

I didn’t make up this recipe. Actually, I am not all that great a cook. I can follow a recipe on a good day if I don’t get too distracted. I am not one of those people who can make spur-of-the-moment magic out of the contents of a neglected refrigerator. Like say, a rutabaga, some wilted arugula, an anchovy or two and some grapefruit-pomegranite juice. Not me. Sorry. I think I started with the Moosewood Cookbook lasagne recipe about a gazillion years ago. My lasagne is also influenced by The Commander and Radical Betty, who each had their own successful lasagne recipes back in the days of community dinners at the Old Cabin, when there were multitudes to feed. And in those early days, I was a fussy enough eater (don’t tell the beach urchins) that I didn’t even like lasagne.

“My” “recipe” isn’t written in stone. Add the Italian sausage or not. Substitute another kind of ground meat. I think The Commander used good quality ground beef and I think Radical Betty even used ground veal or something. Get creative with the vegetables. Carrots and/or zucchini instead of or in addition to spinach. Or whatever you can dream up. Probably not rutabaga.

The sauce can be made ahead and frozen. It’ll be okay. The noodles do NOT have to be pre-cooked!!! It’ll be easier to put together if they’re dry and they *will* cook when you bake the lasagne.

Don’t be daunted by the ingredient list or the procedure. Make the sauce one day. Make the filling and put the dern thing together the next. Or whenever you want.

Merry Christmas again and goodnight from the laziest cook on earth,
Kayak Woman

P.S. Don’t kid yourself. The commenter who brought this post on is a master at making lasagne herself. A better cook than me any day of the week and one who feeds multitudes on a regular basis.

This entry was posted on Friday, December 26th, 2008 at 7:30 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.