Vegetable lasagna with saffron bechamel

After so many sweet recipes, today I share the recipe for a pasta dish that I made yesterday for dinner. These vegetable lasagna with saffron bechamel were created to use those vegetables left in the fridge, and I must say that we really enjoyed the flavored bechamel!

INGREDIENTS:

Mixed fresh vegetable – I used 2 zucchini, 3 carrots, 3 medium sized potatoes and a piece of squash

fresh lasagna noodles

30 saffron threads (buy here)

1 lt milk, room temperature

45 gr butter + some for greasing

45 gr flour

Grated Parmesan cheese

Oil, salt, pepper and nutmeg as needed

DIRECTIONS:

Firstly, toast the saffron threads for a few minutes in a non-stick pan, taking care not to burn them. Remove a cup of milk from the total, bring it to simmer, then add the saffron threads and leave them to infuse for at least 20 minutes.

Wash, peel and cut the vegetables into smalll dices, put them in a pan with some oil, salt and pepper and let them stew until they are soft, adding some water when necessary.

Prepare the bechamel: in a saucepan, melt the butter together with the flour then pour in the milk, stirring well to avoid lumps. Add the saffron milk and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the béchamel sauce has thickened. When it is ready, season with some salt and a sprinkling of nutmeg.

Grease a baking dish, pour a veil of bechamel sauce on the bottom then put enough freash lasagna noodles to cover the surface. Cover the noodles with more bechamel, add a quarter of the vegetables and some grated Parmesan cheese. Alternate the layers until you finish all the ingredients, then bake in a preheated oven at 200° C / 395 F for about 20 minutes.

Let it rest for a few minutes before serving.

Tip: to make your vegetable lasagna with saffron bechamel more flavorful, you can also add crumbled and browned sausage, or strips of bacon or ham.

Give this recipe a try and let me know what you think about it!

Claudia Casadio

Born in Romagna, now living in Piacenza. I am the owner and co-founder with my husband of Zafferano Emiliano. Follow our site to get the latest news about our Saffron cultivation – and some recipes as well!