PESARO – I guess Spring is a time of the year when our family is mostly inspired by vegetable recipes! I gave a quick look at the recipes we posted in the past and, besides Nonna Lella’s Green Lasagne, we shared with you our Spring Risotto and Vegetable Carbonara, welcome spring! (Walter’s famous quick apron-to-dish recipes requiring no more than 30 minutes!).
Anyway, the lasagne you see in the picture above, on your left, are just ‘white lasagne’ with béchamel sauce (especially made for auntie Chicca’s niece Costanza who doesn’t eat vegatables… by the way: how did you talk your children into eating vegetables?). However, her Spring Lasagne, are filled with asparaguses, carrots and zucchinis.
Finely chop the onion and celery, put in a pan with 2 spoonfuls of olive oil and some butter, and simmer until golden and soft.
Cut most of the white, harder part of the asparagus, boil them for 5 minutes, keep some, then toss the rest in the pan and simmer for 5 more minutes together with sliced zucchinis and carrots. Mix everything with a little milk.
Then boil the lasagna, lay them flat on a towel to dry for a minute or two, then make one layer of lasagna, cover with some vegetables and a little béchamel, then repeat: lasagna, vegetable béchamel sauce. For as many layers as you want (at list six, according to our tradition). In fact, ‘lasagne’ in Pesaro – my hometown – are also known as ‘millefoglie’ (thousand leaves/sheets).
Finish the topmost layer with béchamel, garnish with some grated parmesan and a few boiled asparagus you’ve kept.
Put in the oven for 25 minutes just before eating.
The table in the pictures below was lovingly set by nonna Lella for our Easter lunch. She used the dish set she was given for her wedding some… 50 years ago!
If you don’t add tradition to your food, the food tastes a little worse, doesn’t it?