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Red, White, and Green Vegetable "Lasagne




Source of Recipe


Cooking-Books


Recipe Introduction


The blogger sez: The recipe was a bit time consuming, but some parts could have been prepped ahead, which would have made things go a little smoother over all. I made a few small changes, which will be noted in the recipe below. Overall, this was fantastic. In fact, Dylan commented that it was "like when you get something really different at a super upscale restaurant and then it totally blows your mind."


Recipe Link: http://cooking-books.blogspot.com/2008_12_01_archive.html

List of Ingredients




Serves 12 as a side dish, 8 as a main course

Recipe



2 1/2 lbs red beets, peeled and thinly sliced, greens removed and reserved
1 T fresh thyme
1 T extra virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 T unsalted butter
1/4 c all-purpose flour
2 c milkDash of cayenne pepper
Dash of garlic powder4 oz semihard cheese, grated (i.e. Chedder, Gruyere, Swiss, Provolone)
4 oz semisoft cheese, grated (i.e. Colby, Fontina, Mozzarella, Havarti)1/2 c fresh bread crumbs
4 oz blue cheese, crumbled
1/2 head cauliflower, thinly sliced1 c Five Onion Confit (recipe follows)
1/4 c Green Bean Pesto (recipe follows)



Preheat the oven to 425. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Have ready a large bowl filled half way with ice water. In a large bowl, combine the beets, thyme, olive oil, 1/2 t salt and 1/4 t black pepper. Spread the beet mixture on to a baking sheet (I lined mine with parchment). Roast for 25 minutes, stirring once, or until the beets are tender (I found 35 minutes was perfect).

While the beets are roasting, remove the red stems from the reserved beet greens and discard. Blanch the leaves in the boiling water until they wilt and turn bright green, about 30 seconds. Transfer the greens to the bowl of ice water to cool. Drain the greens and squeeze them to remove any remaining moisture. Set aside. (I actually used some Bordeaux Spinach that I had in the fridge because I assumed I wouldn't need them and snarffed down all the beet greens for dinner the night before. I did not blanch the spinach.)


In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and whisk in the flour. Slowly add the milk, whisking constantly. Add the cayenne, garlic powder, 1/2 t salt, and a dash of black pepper. Cook until the sauce thickens, about 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat. Add the semihard and semisoft cheeses and continue whisking until the cheese is completely melted. Set aside.



Remove the beets from the oven and set them aside. Reduce the oven heat to 375. Butter a 9x13-inch baking dish.Sprinkle the bread crumbs over the bottom of the baking dish. Place half of the beets on top of the bread crumbs in one overlapping layer. Arrange half of the blue cheese in large chunks on top of the beets. (We didn't have any blue cheese! I thought we did, but it had been eaten! Instead I used a mixture of Asiago and Fontina, which was good. i think it would have been even better with the blue cheese.) Make a second layer with the remaining beets and blue cheese. Drizzle 1/4 c of the cheese sauce on top. Place the beet greens (or spinach!) on top of the cheese sauce. layer the cauliflower, 1/4 c of cheese sauce, and then the onion confit. Top with the remaining cheese sauce, spreading it to the edges of the dish and covering any exposed confit.


Bake, uncovered, for 40 minutes (I baked ours 50 minutes). Let the lasagne sit for at least 20 minutes before slicing and serving. Serve with a generous dollop of Green Bean Pesto.