Spring Vegetable Lasagna, and a Vegan Spring Ragù

Ingredients:

For the Bechamel Sauce
1 Stick of butter
4 cups (1 liter) Whole milk
5 heaping tbsp Flour
A pinch of salt
A good grating of nutmeg

For the Assembly
Fresh pasta, made with 3 eggs and 300g flour
Bechamel Sauce
Spring Ragù
Grated Parmigiano or Grana

Instructions:

• 1. HAVE THE SAUCE READY
  Make sure you have the sauce ready when you start. You can make it in advance to relieve yourself of some work.


• 2. MAKE THE PASTA
  Make the dough according to my pasta guide in this post.
  Roll it out so that you can cut sheets that are going to fit your container.
  Bring a large pot of water up to a boil, and lay some tea towels or cloths on a table. Once ready to cook, dump your pasta sheets in the boiling water a couple at a time, and cook for 3-4 minutes. Drain and lay on the cloths, so you can dry out most of the water.


• 3. MAKE THE BECHAMEL
  To make the bechamel, start by melting the butter in a pot. Once it mostly melter, stir in the flour and whisk well with a balloon whisk. You want to create a smooth roux. Once you obtained that, pour in half the milk, melt the roux, and pour in the rest of the milk. At this poin, you have to keep whisking the sauce very gently until it starts smoking. Never stop, or it might stick! Once it starts to smoke it will also start to thicken. Whisk faster as the sauce thickens, and whisk very vigorously once it gets to a very creamy consistency. Whisk well for a minute, and turn the heat off. The sauce will thicken more as it cools.


• 4. ASSEMBLE
  Preheat the oven to 250Cº and have all of your parts ready, and start with a layer of veggie sauce on the bottom of your baking vessel. Mix in some bechamel, and add the first layer of pasta. Cover the vessel as evenly as you can, then go with the next layer: veggie sauce, bechamel, grated cheese, pasta. You should get up to 3 or 4 layers.  Finish with sauce, bechamel and a good sprinkling of cheese. I am not giving directions on how much sauce or bechamel to use, as everyone has their preference and you could do it in one big vessel or several small ones, which would change dosage. Decide whether you want heavily loaded lasagna or something where you have a prevalence of pasta, but ultimately try and balance things out.
  What you should do with larger trays of lasagna is pre-cut the portions before sticking them in the oven.


• 5. BAKE
  Bake your lasagna for about 30 minutes. It could be a little less for smaller vessels, or a bit more for larger ones. the rule of thumb is that once they’re well browned and crispy on top, they’re ready. You could also bake them for a slightly shorter time and finish them off under the broiler. Let them cool for 5 minutes and serve and delight yourself in all the goodness.