Caprese Lasagna

This recipe caught my eye while I was browsing through my friend Lauren's blog. I feel like I've been in a little bit of a food slump lately and was looking for ideas. I love basil and tomatoes (and pasta of course!) so this went on my agenda for this week.

I liked it, but there are definitely a few things I would do differently. I would make it in a smaller baking dish (I used 9x13) and stack the lasagna a little higher. I will also dice the tomatoes next time instead of slicing them. I think my family would enjoy them more that way.

I will post the recipe as is, but I did use regular lasagna noodles instead of oven ready, so I cut the baking time to a half hour, followed by 5 minutes of broiling.

Caprese Lasagna
Recipe from Rachael Ray by way of Lauren's Kitchen

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped or grated
2 tablespoons flour
1 cup milk
1 cup chicken stock
A few grates of fresh nutmeg
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 box oven-ready lasagna noodles
4 Roma tomatoes, thinly sliced
Half a bunch basil, chopped (about 30 leaves)
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Preparation:

Pre-heat the oven to 375ºF.

Place a large saucepot over medium-heat and melt the butter. Add the garlic to the pan and cook until aromatic, about 1 minute. Sprinkle the flour over the butter and garlic and cook for about 1 minute. Whisk the milk and chicken stock into the butter-flour mixture and bring up to a bubble. Add the nutmeg, season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and simmer until thickened, 3-4 minutes.

Assemble the lasagna by ladling a small amount (about 1/4 cup, just eyeball it) of the sauce into the bottom of a 9-inch x 13-inch baking dish and laying three lasagna noodles over the sauce. Top the noodles with about a third of the sliced tomatoes, a third of the basil, 1/4 cup of sauce and about a third of the shredded cheese. Repeat until all ingredients are used up, topping the lasagna off with a final layer of sauce and shredded cheese.

Cover the pan with foil and bake the lasagna for 30 minutes. Remove the foil from the baking dish and bake another 15 minutes until the cheese is melted and the sauce is bubbly. When ready to serve, top with the remaining chopped basil leaves

ZACH'S RATING - ***