asparagus lasagna

To go along with the glitz and glam of the Oscars, Jennifer made asparagus lasagna. We've been tuned into the Food Network lately, and this recipe is from an episode of Giada's Everyday Italian. Billed as an elegant restaurant-style lasagna, she certainly was correct. Unlike several of the previous recipes we've put together, we actually had all the ingredients for this one. The prep was fairly involved but working together it all came together fairly well. I'd wash the basil and rinse the jars of sun-dried tomatoes then Jennifer would make the pesto. The process really did click along.

Lasagna without meat or sauce - who knew it could be so good? The dish was prepared with layers of sun-dried tomato basil pesto, noodles (no crazy version with thinly sliced eggplant here), an asparagus-ricotta mixture, diced turkey bacon (ok, it called for pancetta but a good-quality turkey bacon was an excellent substitute), mozzarella and parmesan. I originally suggested omitting the pancetta. What a disappointment that would have been! The bacon gave the dish an occasional taste of smokiness - not in every forkful, just now and then, and each time I noticed it, I thought 'oh, there it is, I'm so glad we didn't leave it out.'

The recipe calls for four bunches of asparagus. We looked at the mound of washed asparagus in the sink and immediately wished we had a more accurate measurement, like cups or pounds. We put in probably three of our bunches, and that was just fine, we didn't need any more than that. Unlike conventional lasagna, this felt lighter. But it was still a hefty meal and we served it with a warm baguette. Yum.