Baked lasagna without meat

This is our new recipe of baked lasagna. This lasagna recipe is made without meat. So it's a vegetarian recipe but is also ideal for all people who is finding for healthy eating ideas.

Prepare the artichokes. Snap off the stalk close to the base, pulling out any fibres which would extend into the bottom. Cut off the pointed top and, using kitchen scissors, trim the leaves to remove spines and any brown edges. Cut every artichoke in quarters and plunge them in lemon water. The artichokes are ready to be cooked. You can find step-by-step simple instructions with a lot of images to clean the artichokes in the INFO area.
At this point put two tablespoons of olive oil in a pan and saute half the leek in the olive oil. Switch off the gas. Take every artichoke quarter and cut it into thin strips; place them in the pan with the leek. Once finished switch on the gas again, add the aromatic herbs, season to taste with salt and stir accurately. Keep on cooking on low heat, half-covered, stirring now and then for about 10 minutes. Add hot water or vegetable stock only if necessary. Don't reduce completely the artichoke sauce.

Prepare the asparagus. Meanwhile steam the asparagus. Then pass them through food mill.

Prepare the spinach. We used frozen leaf spinach for saving the cleaning time. Wash the dried tomatoes under cold running water to remove the excess of salt, then cut them into little pieces. Put the remaining olive oil and leek in a pan. Saute lightly the leek. Add the dried tomatoes and frozen spinach and keep on cooking on low heat until the cooking juice is well reduced. Switch off the gas and season to taste with salt.

Mix all the vegetables. At this point you can mix all the vegetables: the puréed asparagus, artichoke sauce and spinach. Stir accurately.

Prepare the lasagna in the baking pan. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F). You must use a 3-quart baking pan (6.5-inches wide by 11.5-inches long by 2-inches deep). Spread a bit of vegetable sauce on the bottom. Place a sheet of lasagna dough and spoon in 2-3 tablespoons of vegetable sauce. Cover with another sheet of lasagna dough. Continue until all the ingredients are used up, remembering the top must be made of vegetable sauce. Sprinkle with the plain dried breadcrumbs.
Bake for about 30 minutes or until the surface is golden.

Remove the dish from the oven. Wait 5-10 minutes before serving.

Note

• - For the best result you can use good-quality ingredients.
• - Carlo and I generally use fresh or frozen vegetables according to the season. In spring it's easy to use fresh ingredients but in winter it's impossible. Besides you need much time to clean and wash spinach. Anyway if you want to use fresh spinach the righ amount is 450-500 g (1 or 1.1 lb); for asparagus 400 g (14 oz). On the contrary if you want to use frozen artichokes too, buy 2 450 g (1 lb) packages of frozen artichokes.
  
• - You can substitute the plain dried breadcrumbs with grated Parmesan cheese.
• - You can use the shallot instead of leek.
• - We suggest you to prepare this dish in advance, the day before. Warm it up just before serving it.
• - Choose this recipe for your Sunday lunch menu or for a celebration menu. In the last case baked lasagna is a first course in a typycal Italian menu.

Healthy eating

• - This baked lasagna is a real vegetarian recipe. If you use no-egg pasta it's a vegan recipe according to the Italian cooking.
• - We used no cheese and so this recipe is dedicated to people who have lactose intolerance and milk allergies.
• - Anyway this baked lasagna is a healthy choice for the presence of a lot of vegetables especially artichokes that are rich in cynarin.
• - If you want to drink a glass of wine remember you have to add 80-85 kCal per 100 ml.
• - You can choose this recipe as main course in a menu for a celebration. If there are more courses remember the doses of this recipe are enough for more people (it serves 8).
• - We remember you our original home recipes can be made without salt; there is a combination of flavours that substitutes salt. Other no salt recipes ...

What's the right wine ?

Don't serve a wine for the presence or artichokes, prefer an amber beer.