Lasagna with Kale--World's Healthiest Vegetable

I had no time to update my blog but I have been cooking a lot and eating so well over the past long weekend that writing about food seemed almost too much.

The idea of today's post came to me a couple of days ago. While watching the Italian movie "La Grande Bellezza" and looking at Rome's most beautiful landmarks, I started to dream about some of my favorite Italian dishes--vegetarian pastas and risottos.

So today I decided to make a lasagna. In my home lasagna almost always means white béchamel sauce and vegetarian filling that would make all of us happy. Béchamel helps my vegetarian son, who does not like most vegetables, accept any vegetables if I put them between the sheets of lasagna.

After the trip to TJ I came home with a large bag of Tuscan kale (to make the dish as healthy and Italian as it could be). In recent years, kale became THE vegetable and is often called world's healthiest vegetable. It features in almost all healthy diets and especially those detoxifying, based on juices. It is super rich in many vitamins, particularly K, A and C, helps lower cholesterol and when included in a daily diet, it is reputed to lower cancer risk by mitigating the genetic predisposition to it.

Kale has a nice earthy and nutty taste and a slightly firm texture thanks to which this lasagna, besides being healthy, can also be very tasty and satisfying.

Kale Lasagna
(Serves four)

Ingredients:
9 lasagna sheets,
10 oz kale leaves (one large bag), chopped,
1 medium onion, chopped,
2 garlic cloves, sliced,
2 tbsp olive oil,
4 tbsp butter,
4 tbsp all purpose flour,
2 and 1/2 cup milk,
4-6 oz shredded Pecorino cheese,
salt and pepper to taste.

Preparation:
1. In a large frying pan heat the oil. Add the onion and garlic and fry on a medium heat for about 5 minutes until transparent. Add washed and chopped kale leaves and fry on a medium heat for a couple of minutes until kale twiddles.

2. Make béchamel. Melt butter in a medium pot over the medium heat. Whisk in the flour. Pour in milk and using a whisker make a smooth sauce. Bring to boil, while whipping continuously, and set aside. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Preheat oven to 375F.

4. Use about 1/3 of the béchamel sauce to cover the bottom of an oven proof dish. Spread three sheets of lasagna on top of it. Cover the lasagna with half of kale and put half of shredded Pecorino on top.

5. Place the second layer of lasagna on top. Use a half of the remaining béchamel to cover it and spread the second half of kale on top of it.

6. Cover the kale with the third layer of lasagna. Pour over the rest of béchamel and spread the remaining pecorino. Cover with the aluminum foil and bake for about 30 minutes. Remove the foil and let the lasagna bake for another 10 minutes until it turns dark gold.

Take out of the oven, let it cool down a little bit, cut and serve.

White Zucchini Lasagna--No Pasta Required

With the first days of spring and warmer weather, I bury in my refrigerator all those meats and potatoes, which missed their chance to become comfort food during the cold days, and look with desire at all the crunchy and green vegetables that the spring brings about. Before we will even notice cold soups and fresh vegetable pasta will rule on our deck tables, and the neighborhood yards will beam with the aroma of grilled meats.

This winter I made exceptionally many comfort dishes, often coming from my native tradition, trying to keep my mother busy in the kitchen, but many of these winter specialties I will save for the next season.

Influenced by the weather, I came home from grocery shopping with a bag full of vegetables, which looked so fresh as if they grew in my own yard. I bought a couple of pounds of zucchini, red peppers, and fennel, for the first time ever. As a result, last week we had many vegetarian dishes for dinner to celebrate the first days of spring.

I bought so much zucchini that I decided to make the whole dish of them and I came with an idea of a zucchini lasagna in white cheese and béchamel sauce. White sauce lasagna with spinach is my kids' favorite, so I was hoping I could rely on that to smuggle zucchini into their diet. For those who never made, preparing the béchamel sauce is the most difficult part of this recipe. Other than that, it is a very simple dish.

Contrary to the conventional culinary wisdom, I always make my béchamel sauce with cold rather than warm milk. In spite of that, it has always turned out perfect. The use of cheese increases the calorie content of this dish, but it is still a leaner dish than a typical lasagna, which is based on pasta.

Zucchini Lasagna

Ingredients:
For bechamel sauce
3 tbsp butter,
3 tbsp flour,
2 cups milk,
1/4 tsp nutmeg,
salt and pepper to taste.
For lasagna
8-10 medium green zucchinis, sliced lengthwise into 3-4 slices each (with the ends trimmed),
15 oz ricotta cheese,
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese,
4 cloves garlic, sliced,
1 egg,
salt and pepper,

Preparation:
To make béchamel sauce
1. Melt butter in a medium pot over a low heat and, when liquid, add flour. Mix well with an egg whisker until it turns into a smooth paste.
2. Take the pot off the heat and pour in one cup of milk. Mix well with a whisker until it makes a smooth sauce. Add another part of milk and whisk.
3. Return to the heat and mixing constantly bring the sauce to boil. Let it boil for about 2-3 minutes on the low heat. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.
To make lasagna
1. Preheat oven to 400 F.
2. Spread half of the béchamel sauce over a bottom of a medium sized oven-proof dish. Cover with slices of zucchini and slices of garlic. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Mix ricotta with egg and spread half of it on top of the first zucchini layer.
4. Cover ricotta cheese with another layer of zucchini and again season with salt, pepper, and garlic.
5. Cover the second layer of zucchini with the remaining ricotta.
6. Put the last zucchini layer on top of the ricotta. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and the rest of the bechamel sauce over it.
7. Cover the bechamel sauce with shredded mozzarella cheese.
8. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the sauce bubbles and the top becomes gold.

Serve with a lettuce salad, either with bread or as stand alone dish.