Week 28, Recipes 3 & 4: Italian Flag Lasagna & Garlic Bread

Italian Flag Lasagna

Recipe courtesy of Rachael Ray

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 6 tablespoons flour
• 2 cups milk
• Salt
• Ground nutmeg
• One 28-ounce can tomato puree
• 12 no-boil lasagna sheets
• 1 cup fresh basil leaves
• 3 zucchini, thinly sliced lengthwise
• One 18-ounce bag shredded mozzarella cheese
• One 15-ounce container ricotta cheese
• 2 cups freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. Preheat the oven to 375°. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Whisk in the flour until smooth. Slowly add the milk and cook, whisking continuously, until thickened, about 8 minutes. Season the cream sauce with salt and nutmeg.
2. 
   Coat the bottom of a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with 1 cup tomato puree and cover with 4 lasagna sheets. Layer the lasagna as follows: tomato puree, basil, zucchini, mozzarella, ricotta, cream sauce, Parmesan and lasagna sheets. Repeat the layering, gently pressing down each layer. Finish with a layer each of tomato puree, basil, zucchini and cream sauce. Top with the Parmesan. Bake until golden and bubbly, about 30 minutes. Let sit for about 5 minutes before cutting into squares.

Results: I didn't have ricotta or lasagna sheets so I made a layered penne pasta bake.  I put feta in the cream sauce to give it more weight to replace the ricotta.  It was SO GOOD!!  Something about zucchini & pasta makes me happy every single time.  And the fact that the zucchini wasn't cooked ahead of time made it crunchy in the oven.  Then the wilted basil?  DELICIOUS!!

Garlic Bread
Recipe courtesy of Ina Garten

• 6 large garlic cloves, chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh oregano leaves
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup good olive oil
• 1 loaf ciabatta bread
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Place the garlic in the bowl of a food processor and process until minced. Add the parsley, oregano, salt and pepper and pulse twice.


Heat the olive oil in a medium saute pan and add the garlic mixture. Remove the pan from the heat.

Slice the ciabatta bread in half horizontally, and spread the butter on 1 half. Spread the garlic mixture on the other half of the bread, and put the halves together. Wrap the bread in aluminum foil.


Place the bread in the oven and bake for 5 minutes. Open the foil, and continue baking for an additional 5 minutes.

Results: You may be saying, how does garlic bread count as a recipe?  But it was a bit involved as you see.  Worth the effort.  Ina's recipe called for too much olive oil so I cut it down to a reasonable amount which is what you see above.  I don't think you need quite that much butter either.  I put it in the microwave for 10 seconds to soften it enough to spread.  Very yummy and garlicky.  I would also make sure when you first cook the bread you put the garlic side down so it melts into the butter.