Asparagus Lasagna

Asparagus was .99 cents a pound last week at my local grocery store.  That's cheap!  I bought two bunches and tried out two new recipes.  One from Pinterest, one from a Weight Watchers cookbook I have.

I didn't take any photos of the Asparagus Gratin, but it was really, really tasty.  The cheese sauce is made with the water you cook the asparagus in, rather than milk or cream, so it's much lighter than you would expect.

Here's the photo from Pinterest:

Source: apronappeal.blogspot.com via Mindy on Pinterest

Looks good, right?

It was.

Now onto the next one.  Asparagus Lasagna.  The Dad really liked this.  The kids didn't care for it much.  They ate the noodles and scooted the asparagus to the side. 

*I prefer my asparagus more on the crunchy side, so next time I'd skip precooking it.  I added some garlic powder to the cheese sauce, 'cause I thought it needed it.  I also added about 1/4 cup of Gruyere to the sauce and to the top.  I mean, who only uses 2 tablespoons of cheese for anything?!  Other than that, I followed the recipe.

This would be a good base for any veggie lasagna.  Zucchini, tomato, mushroom....you get the idea.

Here's the recipe:

Asparagus Lasagna

3 cups cold water

1 1/2 pounds asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1/4-inch pieces

2 C low-fat (1%) milk

1 Tbsp cornstarch

1 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp unsalted butter

3/4 tsp salt

Freshly ground pepper

1 bunch scallions, thinly sliced (I skipped these for The Dad)

1/4 C + 2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

1 C part-skim ricotta cheese

8 no-boil lasagna noodles (I used regular and boiled them first for about 7 minutes)

Preheat oven to 400.

Spray 9-inch square baking dish with nonstick spray.

Bring water to a boil in a saucepan.  

Add the asparagus and cook for 2 minutes.

*see my note above about skipping this step*

Drain; let cool.

Meanwhile, with a wire whisk, combine the milk, cornstarch, flour, butter, salt, and pepper in a saucepan; cook, whisking constantly, until the sauce thickens and comes to a boil, 3 to 4 minutes.

Remove from heat.  

Stir in scallions and 1/4 C of the Parmesan.

*see my note above for adding more cheese*

Spoon one-fourth of the sauce into the baking dish; top with 2 lasagna noodles, then spread one-third of the ricotta and one-third of the asparagus over the noodles.  

I don't know if the no-boil noodles are shorter than regular, but I ended up cutting mine to fit and making layers that were three across.

Repeat the layers two times with the sauce, noodles, ricotta, and asparagus.

Top with the last 2 noodles, then the remaining sauce.

Cover the lasagna with aluminum foil and bake 45 minutes.

Remove foil and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

 Bake until the cheese is golden brown and bubbling, about 15 minutes more.

Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

I didn't let mine sit long enough, (I'm not known for patience when it comes to food), so it didn't come out in perfect squares.

Ah well, it still tasted the same.

We had it with salad and bread.

Here's dinner on my plate: