It has been a while that I meant preparing lasagna roll ups, and the dark winter weather outside just gave me the last push to finally make this comforting dish. The possibilities of fillings for lasagna are endless, but my absolute favorite is a tomato sauce filled of Mediterranean vegetables, that bring a taste of summer back to my kitchen. Zucchini, eggplant, paprika, tomato and garlic roasted in olive oil make such a fragrant and delicious sauce that hardly requires anything else. Apart from a creamy bechamel, a classic in French lasagna recipes, which I prepared for the first time dairy free!
The lasagna pasta sheet were made using my Gluten Free Fresh Pasta recipe. It is a bit time consuming to make homemade fresh pasta but it is all so worth it, trust me! If you don’t have a pasta machine, no worry you can simply roll the dough by hand.
As you probably know already, the bechamel or béchamelle is a white sauce usually prepared with butter and milk. I experimented today with rice milk and ghee butter. I use more and more ghee, as a replacement for butter in recipes where I still want to keep the buttery flavor, without the milk proteins and lactose. Combined with rice milk and a generous pinch of nutmeg, the bechamel sauce had a surprisingly tasty result and just the right texture. I know many have used vegetable oil in their bechamel recipe, so feel free to give it a try (and let me know the outcome!).
After the veggies and bechamel sauces are ready, the lasagna rolls require a few steps but they are all really easy: cook the lasagna sheets, spread a layer of bechamel and tomato sauce, sprinkle with parmesan (unless you want to go fully dairy free), roll them up and bake in the oven half an hour. The roll ups lasagna looks so beautiful with the crimpled side up, I don’t even cover the rolls all the way up with sauce so the edges become nicely crispy.
Bon appétit!
- Fresh gluten free pasta sheets: See my recipe of Gluten Free Fresh Pasta (the quantity works perfectly for these lasagna).
- 1 zucchini, diced
- 1 eggplant, diced
- 1 red paprika, diced
- 800 g chopped tomatoes
- 2 shallots
- 3 garlic cloves
- Olive oil
- Fresh basil
- Dried Provence herbs (or dried rosemary, oregano, thyme)
- Salt, Pepper to taste
- For the bechamel
- 50 g ghee
- 50 g white rice flour
- 750 ml rice milk
- Ground nutmeg
- Salt, Pepper
- Parmesan cheese (optional)
- Mediterranean vegetable sauce: Prepare the vegetables: Peel and chop the onions and garlic. Trim the eggplant and zucchini, deseed the peppers and chop into small chunks. Roughly chop the tomatoes (or use canned chopped tomatoes).
- Heat two tablespoon of oil in a large saucepan. Add the onion and garlic and cook about 5 minutes. Then add the chopped eggplant, zucchini and pepper (you may need to do this in two batches). Stir and fry until golden and softened.
- Add the chopped tomatoes, salt and pepper. Add the dried herbs and fresh basil leaves roughly chopped (keep some leaves for garnishing).
- Cover the pan and simmer over a low heat for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven 180 degrees.
- Prepare the bechamel: Melt the ghee butter in a saucepan and stir in quickly the rice flour. Stir and cook the mixture for about 5 minutes.
- Stir in progressively the rice milk, a little at a time, while whisking constantly and vigorously so no lump forms.
- Cook while stirring constantly until the bechamel sauce thickens. When ready, add salt, pepper and a pinch of nutmeg.
- Prepare the lasagna sheets: Cut 7x30 cm strips in the fresh pasta sheets with a crimped edges pastry wheel. Boil salted water and cook the lasagna strips for about 3 minutes ( I cook 2 strips at a time). Line them on a cutting board or wide plate.
- When the vegetables are ready, blend them with a hand-held mixer, although not all the way to a puree.
- Prepare a baking dish by adding a layer of the tomato sauce on the bottom.
- Spread a layer of bechamel on each lasagna strip and top with the vegetable sauce. Sprinkle with parmesan and roll the lasagna sheet.
- Place it carefully into the baking dish, spiral side-up. Do the same for the other lasagna sheets.
- Pour some of the sauce in between the rolls, sprinkle with extra Parmesan and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes.
- Feuilles de lasagnes fraîches: voir ma recette de pâtes fraîches sans gluten (la quantité est parfaite pour les lasagnes).
- 1 courgette
- 1 aubergine
- 1 poivron rouge
- 800 g de tomates concassées
- 2 échalottes
- 3 gousses d'ail
- Huile d'olive
- Basilic frais
- Herbes de Provence
- Sel, poivre
- Optionel: Parmesan
- Pour la béchamel
- 50 g ghee (beurre clarifié)
- 50 g farine de rix
- Pincée de noix de muscade
- Sel, poivre
- Préparer la sauce aux légumes: Emincer les oignons et l'ail. Couper les légumes en dés.
- Chauffer deux càs d'huile dans une sauteuse. Ajouter l'oignon et l'ail et cuire pendant 5 minutes. Ensuite ajouter les légumes en dés. Faire revenir jusqu'à ce que les légumes soient tendres.
- Ajouter les tomates, le sel, poivre et les herbes de Provence ainsi que des feuilles de basilic emincées (en garder pour la garniture).
- Couvrir et laisser mijoter pendant 30 minutes.
- Préchauffer le four à 180 degrés.
- Préparer la béchamel: Faire fondre le ghee dans une poêle et ajouter la farine de riz en mélangeant vigoureusement. Laisser cuire environ 5 minutes. Ajouter le lait petit à petit toujours en remuant pour éviter les grumeaux. Cuire jusqu'à ce que la béchamel épaississe. Ajouter sel, poivre et une pincée de noix de muscade.
- Préparer les feuilles de lasagne: Couper des bandes de 7x30cm environ.
- Faire chauffer de l'eau salée et cuire les feuilles pendant environ 3 minutes (je cuis 2 feuilles à la fois).
- Mixer les légumes une fois cuits avec un mixeur, sans toutefois les réduire complètement en purée.
- Etaler une partie de la sauce aux légumes au fond d'un plat.
- Ajouter une couche de béchamel sur une feuille de lasagne puis une couche de sauce (éventuellement parsemer de parmesan si vous tolérez). Rouler et placer dans le plat. Faire de même avec les autres feuilles jusqu'à ce que le plat soit rempli.
- Ajouter de la sauce entre les lasagnes et cuire au four environ 30 minutes. Bon appétit!
Leave a Reply