Recipe: First Catering Gig Lasagna
This Lasagna recipe originated from multiple years of satisfying the need for the occasional, comforting meal on a rainy day, which inherently turned into, I don’t care what day it is...lasagna. All day. Everyday. This lasagna is great for a group, which is why it infamously became my “First Catering Gig Lasagna” (backstory below). I’m sure many of you may have a preferred family lasagna recipe, but I encourage you to try this new one. For my vegetarian friends who are tired of meat-based lasagna recipes, or my non-veg friends who want to try something a little less traditional.
RECIPE
A hearty meat-free lasagna that will fill your soul for days on end. Layers of pasta, cheese, vegetables (with a secret touch!).
☺ Mood desired: Warmth, comfort, rain or shine
✔ Good for: Yielding multiple meals and advanced preparation for large groups
☯ Pairs well with: Lots of garlic bread to scarpetta the sauce or a simple green salad
Yields: 8-10 servings
INGREDIENTS:
| Pasta: |
| 1 pound of dried lasagna noodles |
| Marinara Sauce: |
| 4 cups, use your favorite homemade recipe or store bought bottle |
| Vegetable Mixture: |
| 2 tablespoons of olive oil |
| 1 teaspoon of chili flakes |
| 2 garlic cloves, minced |
| 1 small green pepper, minced (secret touch!) |
| 1 zucchini, sliced in half circles |
| 1 yellow squash, sliced in half circles |
| 5 ounce bag of spinach, roughly chopped |
| Ricotta Cheese Mixture: |
| 2 cups of ricotta cheese |
| 4 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese (1 cup for mixture, reserve 3 cups for layering) |
| 2 cups of shredded parmesan cheese (½ cup for mixture, reserve 1 ½ cups for layering) |
| 1 tablespoon of fresh parsley, roughly chopped |
| 1 teaspoon of garlic powder |
| 1 teaspoon of chili flakes |
| Salt/pepper to taste |
| Topping: |
| Italian bread crumbs (optional) |
DIRECTIONS:
For the pasta, in a large pot bring 6 cups of salted water to a boil. Cook lasagna according to package instructions for an “Al Dente” texture. Once cooked, spray a large baking sheet with oil and lay noodles in criss cross layers.
For the sauce, heat up your preferred sauce in a saucepan and keep at a slow simmer
For the vegetables, heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet at medium-high heat. Cook garlic and chili flakes until fragrant.
Cook green pepper for 1-2 minutes (should still be firm in texture).
Add zucchini and yellow squash, tossing occasionally for 3-4 minutes (should still be firm in texture). Season with salt, pepper, chilli flakes.
Add spinach, tossing continuously for 1 minute until wilted.
Turn heat off, and reserve vegetables to the side in a separate bowl, leaving excess liquid in the pan (too much liquid in lasagna will cause slippage and we don’t want that!).
For the ricotta cheese mixture, in a medium sized bowl toss ricotta cheese, 1 cup of mozzarella of cheese, ½ cup of parmesan, parsley, garlic powder, chili flakes, salt and pepper.
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Layer lasagna in a lasagna baking pan in the following order:
Coat bottom of pan with ~1 ladle of sauce
Layer lasagna noodles in one direction ensuring bottom of pan is covered (switch directions for each layer).
Allocate ricotta cheese mixture in 3 parts. Using a spatula or the back of a spoon, spread first part in a thin layer across noodles.
Allocate vegetables mixture in 3 parts. Spread the first part across the ricotta cheese mixture.
Sprinkle reserved mozzarella and parmesan to your desired level of cheesiness.
Repeat: 1) Sauce 2) Noodle 3) Ricotta Cheese Mixture 4) Vegetables 5) Reserved Mozzarella / Parmesan Cheeses.
For the top, add a light layer of sauce (reserving some for serving), desired cheese, and an optional sprinkle of bread crumbs.
Cover the baking pan with foil, and place in the oven for 25 minutes. Remove pan, and reduce temperature to 350°F. Remove foil and cook for another 20 mins, or until you reach the desired golden color on top.
Remove from the oven, cover with foil again and let rest for at least 15-20 mins (again, to prevent slippage!)
To serve: cut into slices, garnish with parsley, provide an optional side of sauce and parmesan cheese for folks who just want a little extra love!
BACKSTORY & LESSONS LEARNED
Before I go into the messy details of my first catering gig, let me share a little insight into my quick one-two punch goals for this lasagna: 1) Lead Jab: Don’t let this turn into a slippery wet mess, and 2) Power Punch: Pack this with crazy amounts of flavor and “meatiness” that even a non-vegetarian can appreciate.
Okay, so what happened in the late spring of 2017? My dear family friend was preparing for her first bundle of joy to arrive, and coming up on the docket was the baby shower. I was asked if I could bring a few trays of lasagna for the group (~50 people). My friends had enjoyed my lasagna before, and thought it would be a delicious and easy meal for the party. Now, others may simply call this “helping out a friend”, and they wouldn’t let this go to their head. Not me. Obviously my lasagna was in high-demand, in fact this would be my big moment - my first catering gig! Was my lasagna really that famous? Would I become famous now too? About a week leading up to the big day, with my self-confidence sky-rocketing (and having completely forgotten about the baby this party was honoring), I went to my friend’s mom’s house to start making the lasagna.
With the support of my mom, and the future grandmother, we tackled making pasta, marinara sauce (note, I use my homemade marinara recipe but your favorite version works just fine), the vegetable and cheese mixture in bulk. One layer after another and four trays later, we crushed it!
💡 LOYALIST INSIDER TIPS! You’ll note the organization needed in preparing each layer (as they call it in french culinary schools: ‘mise en place’ or ‘setting up’). For this recipe, you’ll want to mise en place like you’ve never mise en place’d before. To avoid a huge mess, prep each ingredient / layer while cleaning up along the way (something my mom displays effortlessly and has drilled into me from day one).
Secondly, do not skip the extra special touch of the infamous green pepper. I can guarantee it will induce the pondering thought: “what’s that thing I taste but can’t identify?” Green pepper gets a lot of slack for being useless, but here’s one way to use it - kicking the veggie mixture up a notch!
Now, I share this story so future loyalists don’t make the same simple mistake I made. After completing the trays, we needed to freeze the lasagna to preserve until baby shower day. There wasn’t room in the freezer where we made the lasagna, but no big deal, we stuck them in the car and I drove them to my mom’s house to freeze. Big mistake. On the day of the catering gig, or baby shower, I’m cued to get the lasagna prepped for the group (not having looked at it since freezing a week ago). I pull the foil off the trays, and the entire lasagna is a mess, having shifted entirely to one side of the tray during the car ride last week! All the meticulous layering has gone to shit. Cheese is non-existent in some areas, and my “special” veggie mixture is on the top layer, with half-slices of zucchini laughing in my face. Similarly, the delicately layered lasagna noodles are now wadded up in the corner like an old towel. Worst part is, it’s frozen - fixing it is a loss cause. A sloppy mess! I couldn’t even get my lead jab in for a clean knockout.
Documented evidence of the string cheese and marinara make-over.
After my initial breakdown, with my mom repeatedly telling me I needed to take a chill pill, a small group of baby-shower goers who happened to be in the kitchen took notice of my obstacle and instantly began to make helpful suggestions. As the lasagna noodles defrosted, we were able to salvage key areas. To cover up the lack of cheese, we used the only thing available nearby - string cheese, reserved for school lunch - to place bits and strings over the veggies. After internally promising myself I would never make lasagna, or frankly step into the kitchen again, my now new community of friends and I hoped for the best and threw the dang lasagna in the oven.
Forty-five minutes later, guess what? No one cared about the sloppy, half-salvaged lasagna. Although I noticed all the imperfections, I forgot that lasagna is pretty much always a scrumptious sloppy mess and the power punch of unique flavors was indeed a knockout. In fact, a few folks even came up to me asking for the recipe (I’m still not sure if my mom put them up to this). What wasn’t a knockout however, was the overconfidence I got by instantly thinking I was some famous caterer. Luckily, there were fellow loyalists in the kitchen that day that helped me through the situation, and ultimately we had a wonderful time celebrating the arrival of a new explorer into this world.
Now, don’t make my same mistakes, but do go spend some therapeutic hours making this delicious lasagna for your community of family and friends, or to honor someone else’s special day! It is worth it.
