In the waning days of this winter, I prepared the NY Times Lasagna with Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Carrots recipe, which conveniently used up leftover ricotta and brussels sprouts in the fridge.
While the recipe took a few hours to prepare because of the pre-roasting of the vegetables, I really enjoyed the simplicity of the lasagna. The vegetables interestingly added both light flavors and dense textures to the baked pasta, and I added a half-cup of grated mozzarella to the top of the dish before baking, which added some nice moisture to the lasagna as well.
I will make several changes to the recipe if/when I make it again though. First, I will definitely use more vegetables. I used a 9 by 13-inch baking dish (the recipe did not specify a pan size) and the vegetables seemed a bit sparse in comparison to the pasta and sauce.
This seemed to be the case even though I used approximately 1/4 more brussels sprouts and carrots than the recipe called for. So maybe I'll increase the vegetables by 75%? Increasing the vegetables by this amount will probably still keep the dish to 6 – 8 entree servings.
Second, I'll also use more sauce – I used a bottle of roasted red pepper sauce that I purchased at Whole Foods, which seemed like 3 cups, but again, didn't seem like it was enough as the pasta was slightly dry post-baking.
Finally, I will also repeat one modification I made this time – using ricotta for three layers (including the top layer) instead of just the first two layers.
I'll think about what else might be good modifications to this recipe over the spring, summer and fall – this is definitely a meal to be saved for winter!
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