White vegetable lasagna

Brian asked when we might start eating solid foods again, and I realized my winter soup binge had gone on too long.

I also had a box of sweet potatoes leftover from Thanksgiving, and this recipe used them all -- a good thing, since sweet potatoes do not generally excite me and they may otherwise have sat in the corner of the kitchen until Easter. This vegetable lasagna used them well: the very

lengthy baking time made them sweet and soft, and the texture worked perfectly in lasagna.

So I've never made lasagna before, and I'm not quite sure this counts: no meat or tomato sauce means this does not have traditional lasagna flavor. But true to lasagna form, it has a long recipe with many layers. Don't be daunted -- there's nothing difficult. Just be generous with seasoning, spices and flavorful ingredients (garlic and onion), and make sure you have everything before you start.

White vegetable lasagna

(adapted from another blogger, who adapted it from Cooking Light. I un-lightened it a bit.)

Ingredients for white sauce:

• 3 1/2 lbs sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into ½ inch thick slices (I used the food processor -- messy looking slices, but it doesn't matter for this.)
• Cooking spray
• 2 cups milk
• 1 shallot, coarsely chopped
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 1/2 T flour
• 3/4 C grated Parmesan

Ingredients for the other layers:

• 1 T olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic, diced
• 10oz fresh spinach
• 10 oz ricotta cheese (I used about 2/3 of a 15oz package)
• 2-3 oz fresh mozzarella, either purchased in pearl form or sliced very thin
• 9 no-boil lasagna noodles

Roast the sweet potato slices. This can be done earlier in the day, or even a day ahead. Preheat oven to 450°. Spray 2 - 3 large baking sheets with cooking spray and spread sweet potato slices in a thin layer. Season generously. Roast 20 minutes, turn, and roast another 20 minutes or until tender (about 40 minutes total). Turn the oven down to 375° (for final baking of lasagna).

Make the white sauce. Combine onion, milk, nutmeg, cinnamon, and bay leaf in a medium sauce pan and heat on medium heat, stirring constantly. Bring to a simmer, then remove from heat and let the sauce stand 15 minutes (this is when the flavors of onion + bay leaf infuse into the milk). Strain out solids and discard, saving the milk mixture. Return milk to the pan and whisk in flour. Season with salt and pepper (about 1/2 tsp each). Cook over medium, whisking, until sauce is thick, about 5 - 8 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in Parmesan.

Saute the spinach (can be completed while milk is resting for 15 minutes). In large pan, saute the garlic briefly in olive oil over medium heat. When softened, add a large handful of spinach -- enough to fill the pan -- and a big sprinkle of salt. Turn the spinach with kitchen tongs as it wilts. If not all the spinach will fit in the pan at once, remove the first batch to a plate when wilted, and add the second half.

Assemble your lasagna in layers: sauce, pasta, sauce, spinach, sweet potatoes, ricotta, pasta, sauce, spinach, sweet potatoes, ricotta, pasta, sauce, mozzarella. All layers should be thin, but take care to spread the sauce sparingly. Spray the interior of a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray. Spread a thin layer of sauce in the dish, and top with three lasagna noodles (overlapping slightly). Spread a thin layer of sauce on the noodles. Add a layer of spinach, then a layer of sweet potato, then a layer of ricotta -- you may need to crumble/smash the ricotta into bits and spread around, since it's not quite liquid enough to spread. Over ricotta, add a second layer of pasta, then sauce, then spinach, then sweet potatoes, then ricotta, then a final layers of pasta. Top it with the last layer of sauce, then spread your mozzarella over everything -- either dot the top with your pearls of mozzarella, or lay out very thin slices.

Spray a large piece of tinfoil with cooking spray, and tent over assembled dish. Bake at 375° for 30 minutes, then remove the foil and bake for another 20 minutes. Top should begin to brown just slightly. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.