Wednesday, March 05, 2008

Veggie Wednesday: Festa Italiana!


Lasagna Rolls on Sauce Béchamel
Lasagna Rolls on Sauce Béchamel


Marie of Proud Italian Cook and Maryann of Finding La Dolce Vita are hosting a new food event called Festa Italiana and this is my entry, which serves two purposes this week. It's meatless, so it's a great dish for Veggie Wednesday, and it's one of my favorite Italian dishes, so it's perfect for Festa Italiana!


You may notice there is no garlic in this recipe - it's not really necessary with the garlic that is in the marinara and you really want to be able to detect the nutmeg in the Béchamel. Add it if you like, though, it certainly wouldn't hurt!


Lasagna Rolls on Sauce Béchamel
Printable Recipe


Sauce Béchamel (a.k.a. white sauce):

2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup milk (use whole milk)
salt and pepper to taste
freshly ground nutmeg - a pinch or so

Melt butter in a heavy saucepan and add flour. Stir together and add milk (at room temp.), stirring over a medium flame until thickened. Pour into a greased 9x13 baking pan - I used a 10" round cake pan, anything that will hold them will do.

Rolls:

1- 15-oz container ricotta cheese
1 cup broccoli florets, cooked until crisp-tender and chopped fine
1 small carrot, peeled and grated - about 1/2 cup
1/2 large red pepper - diced fine - about 1/2 cup
1 cup grated Parmesan
1 large egg lightly beaten
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
8 cooked lasagna noodles
1 cup tomato, spaghetti or marinara sauce
1 cup shredded mozzarella

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Mix ricotta, egg and Parmesan well. Fold in vegetables. Lay out lasagna noodles and spoon filling onto each-spreading to the ends. Roll up and place in the sauced pan making sure the seam is facing down.

Top each roll with marinara and mozzarella. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbly. Stand for 10 minutes before serving. Serve with Béchamel sauce under each roll.


Filling spread on the noodle.



Set into the Béchamel sauce.


Topped with marinara and mozzarella.


Done!


16 comments:

Proud Italian Cook said...

Anne, This looks delicious! and what a great entry for our "Festa Italiana" Bechamel is so good! Thank you!

Anonymous said...

Oh! Beschiamella! I love it! Your dish is perfect for our Festa. Thanks for joining us :)

Anne Coleman said...

Thank you both for stopping by! Glad I could contribute ;o)

Anonymous said...

That looks really good. What else does bechamel sauce go with? I've heard of it before but never made it.

Anne Coleman said...

Andy, the bigger question is, What DOESN'T Bechamel go with?

It's very adaptable--creamy rich and good on pasta as well as poultry, meats, vegetables. Really, it goes with just about anything! It's the perfect base for a great cheese sauce (just add shredded cheese!) and makes the best mac 'n' cheese.

Amanda Wheeler said...

Dear Lord that looks good!

Momma Mia.

Jenni said...

Those look SO delicious and so beautiful!

aspiringcrone said...

wow! I was struggling to come up with something easy - but pretty and delicious and elegant and ... and.. and..

I saw the photo and read the recipe and was hooked!

They are in the oven now - but even before I serve them - I know they are going to be scrumptious.

Thank you for the inspiration!!!

Anne Coleman said...

Amanda and Jenni and Crone--Thank you!

Dear Crone, can I come over? Mine are gone and they were really good. I'm so glad you're inspired!

Blah Society said...

For whatever reason, I've noticed that lasagna rolls have been becoming more and more popular each day.

earthlingorgeous said...

OMG I love lasagna! This looks yummy!

Laurie said...

This looks beautiful..I'll have to try it!

LisaRene said...

Lovely, fancy and much more elegant then traditionally shaped lasagna.

KFarmer said...

Yummy, yummy, yummy in the tummy! :)

MrOrph said...

Wow! Those look great. I just made lasagna rolls last week. I used an Italian sausage filling though with a two cheese sauce instead of the bechemel. Truly decadant!

They'll be on my blog next week. Good luck with your entry.

Anonymous said...

God, those rolls look so creamy, cheesy and frankly, quite awesome. I wish I could grab one off the page,,at 3 in the morning no less!