One of the most common requests I get is to create a category of recipes that freeze well or can be packed up and taken to new parents with bigger (or smaller) things on their agenda than stirring pots. And you’d think I’d be an expert on this having been in their shoes just a year ago but I’ve never bothered. [Update: I have since done so.] New York City isn’t a place where you have to stock your freezer to get a good meal; we can literally have anything delivered to our door in under an hour even food that’s both healthy and better than anything I make at home. (Well almost.) Plus almost everything that sits in my freezer for more than two weeks smells…like frost. It’s been hard to muster up the enthusiasm to preserve anything worthwhile in there.
| Channel | Publish Date | Thumbnail & View Count | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|
 smitten kitchen | 2021-11-17 17:00:22 |  170,679 Views |
Perfect Vegetable Lasagna | Smitten Kitchen with Deb Perelman
But there are few freezer-friendly dishes better than lasagna and I love a good one. Unfortunately it took me a while to find what I considered “good.” Most lasagnas I’ve eaten fall into the American ricotta/tomato sauce/mozzarella/ground beef style and I’ve never really liked them because I found them heavy and yet dry. So it came as no surprise to anyone but me when I found my lasagna nirvana in the tomato-free béchamel sauce version that managed to be light and almost delicate. White sauces aren’t the sort of thing people associate with a light meal especially over pasta but paired with a salad this was a surprisingly refreshing meal without making us feel like we had to pull our pants off. Well most of us anyway.
The magic is in Ina Garten’s recipe. Instead of heaping two or three cheeses onto the sauce she uses only Parmesan. The mushrooms are sautéed and seasoned and… that’s it. Layers of noodles Parmesan and mushrooms are piled on and sautéed together and the result is ridiculously good so good that although I had planned to wrap up the second half to keep in the freezer of a recovering family member I’m afraid it won’t work. Luckily I bought enough ingredients for two.
One Year Ago: Quiche Lorraine Two Years Ago: Best Challah (Egg Bread) and Mom's Apple Pie Three Years Ago: Peanut Butter Brownies Four Years Ago: Acorn Squash with Chili-Lime Vinaigrette
