Greek Style Lasagna Recipe
Although lasagna is a dish that many people looove to eat, in Greece it isn’t very popular. The reason is, that we already have a traditional Greek oven baked pasta that we make and uses the exact same ingredients as lasagna usually do. Like, Minced meat sauce, cream, and cheese. The famous Greek “Pastitsio”.
With the only difference between pastitsio and lasagna being in the type of pasta that is used. Our traditional “Pastitsio” uses macaroni while lasagna use lasagna well…daaah. Lasagna is, in fact, a new entry to our Greek cuisine (I myself haven’t even tried lasagna until a couple of years ago).
So, what I have for you here is a lighter version of lasagna, than the usual over-stuffed ones. In these, you can actually taste the pasta, which in fact tastes amazing (Barilla has one of the best pasta qualities ). Italians love their pasta and what matters the most to them, is to accompany it with some good quality tomato sauce and cheese. Pretty basic stuff.
The Mediterranean Way Of Cooking Lasagna
The Mediterranean dishes, always consist of fresh ingredients. And this dish is no exception. There is also no meat in this recipe. It’s just a simple Vegetarian Lasagna recipe made with fresh vegetables.
You will be amazed to find out just how tasty Lasagna can be without any meat.
Cheesy Lasagna
Less Is More…
Now about this Greek-style lasagna recipe, I started to undress the lasagna and used only some nice homemade tomato sauce. Ready made ones, that are sold on supermarkets are expensive for no reason and contain tons of added sugar (I recently saw Jamie Oliver’s documentary about additive sugar in foods and kind of freaked out).
Lasagna With Vegetables
Anyways, you don’t need to do much. Just pour the tomato juice in a pan, along with a tiny amount of sugar (compared to bought sauces), some dried oregano, a bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper. Then you simply cook it until it starts to become sweet and the sourness goes away. So simple. This sauce is the one I use when making pizza as well. It’s ridiculously easy to make and gives that nice pizza flavor.
Also used some Greek kefalotyri cheese, instead of Parmigiano. It’s just a notch less salty than Parmigiano.
Greek Style Lasagna Recipe With Zucchini And Eggplant
Ingredients
For the base:
- 1 package of barilla's lasagna (9 ounce package of 12)
For the tomato sauce:
- 500 grams canned tomato sauce
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons dried oregano
- 2 teaspoons sugar
For the bechamel cream:
- 6 tablespoons sunflower oil
- 6 tablespoons flour
- 600 grams fresh milk
- 1 egg
For the filling:
- 1 large eggplant half peeled and cut into ½ cm thick slices
- 1 large zucchini cut into ½ cm thick slices
- 1 bell pepper any color you like ( I used an orange one to make it more colorful)
- 125 grams Greek kefalotyri cheese or Romano cheese grated
- salt and pepper
Instructions
- Rinse well and prepare the vegetables.
For the tomato sauce:
- In a small cooking pot over high heat, add the tomato sauce, olive oil, dried oregano, and sugar. Fill the empty can of the tomato sauce with water. Pour the water into the pot. Season with salt and pepper. Once it starts boiling, reduce heat to medium. Simmer for about 30-40 minutes.
- Taste the sauce before removing it from heat. It should be slightly sweet and not too sour. Plus it should look more like a lightly thickened soup than a thick sauce (for the lasagna to soak) . If not add a bit more water and simmer for a few more minutes.
For the bechamel cream:
- In a medium-sized cooking pot, whisk together the sunflower oil and flour. Cook over high heat for 1-2 minutes, whisking constantly.
- Reduce heat to medium and pour in the milk. Keep whisking until the cream starts to thicken. Season with salt and pepper. (Do not worry about small crumbles formed by the flour. They will dissolve once the cream starts to thicken).
- Remove from heat and set aside for 10 minutes before you whisk in the egg.
For the filling:
- Cover a pan with frying oil (about a finger high) and heat over high heat.
- Fry the eggplant for 3-4 minutes until they get a nice golden color. Set aside on paper towels.
- Fry the zucchini for about 5 minutes until they get a golden color too. Set aside on paper towels as well.
- Reduce heat to medium. Cut the pepper into large squares and add it to the pan. Saute the pepper for 2-3 minutes, until it softens on the outside while it remains crispy on the inside.
- Once the vegetables cool down a bit, coarsely chop them and mix them together in a bowl.
Constraction:
- Preheat oven at 230 °C/446°F.
- Using a ladle add a spoonful of the sauce into a 9x13 inch baking pan (23x31 cm). Arrange 3 pieces of lasagna on top of the sauce.
- Sprinkle with a handful of the vegetable mix. Pour a bit more tomato sauce unevenly and a ladle full of cream. Coat lightly with the grated cheese and proceed to the next layer. Repeat process for the next layers until you use all the ingredients.
- Once you reach the top layer push the lasagna a bit downwards (for the sauce to come on top). Add remaining sauce and cream and coat with cheese (no veggies on the top layer). You should have no more than 3-4 layers of lasagna. Otherwise the sauce and cream won't be enough to cover them.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Barilla Pasta, Oven-Ready Lasagne, 9 Ounce (Pack of 12)
- Muir Glen Organic Tomato Sauce, No Salt & No Sugar Added
