rollin’ with the homies
Lasagna is one of those perfect comfort foods that is simple to prepare, easy to make, palate pleasing for the pickiest eaters, and leaves delectable leftovers. I’m a big fan of the ease of Crockpot cooking, and have even had success with lasagna in the slow cooker. No matter what the variation, lasagna is a practically fool proof dish.
I didn’t want to lose that effortlessness in splitting the meal between my meat-eating gent and my own veggie lifestyle. As soon as I got out two baking dishes and started contemplating the merits of prepping two whole lasagnas, the complications began mounting. Would I need to recalculate baking times and temperatures for such a dense dinner? Could I freeze the inevitable huge amount of leftovers? Instead, we enjoyed a new His + Hers Dinner, the Lasagna Duo. As with my His + Hers Chili Duo, I’m not going to walk you through how to make standard lasagna. Overall, you’ll prep the dish your own way or use a preferred internet resource like Epicurious. I’m going to share how I split this dinner between a capricious carnivore and a voracious vegetarian, for a super easy and delicious supper.
This duo starts with the lasagna noodles. First, I made a small lasagna start to finish according to his taste, which is the most basic meat, cheese, pasta, and sauce layers. Leftover, I had about a half a dozen stray noodles. I laid each noodle flat. At one end, I piled on a trio of bright bell peppers, onions, and spinach, all of which I’d sauteed while I prepped the first lasagna. Over the length of each noodle, I sprinkled cheese (most folks use ricotta, I find it too rich and prefer low fat cottage cheese seasoned with garlic and herbs) and spinach.
Grasping the veggie covered end of the noodle, I secured that heavier part into a sort of pocket and simply rolled it up. The boiled pasta’s sticky texture makes it easy to secure the loose end. I laid the six pieces in a pie pan and covered them with the sauce that remained from the main lasagna. Baked alongside the meaty lasagna, my little roll-ups didn’t require any extra attention and turned out absolutely scrumptious. —Casandra Armour
