Spring Lasagna With Carrots, Peas, and Asparagus

Posted per request

• Ready In: 2 hrs
• Serves: 8

Ingredients

• Tomato and Vegetable Sauce

• 3  tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2  tablespoons olive oil
• 2  medium onions, chopped
• 4  garlic cloves, minced
• 1 (28 ounce) can whole tomatoes, snipped to pieces in the can with kitchen shears
• 1 (16 ounce) bag  frozen peas and carrots, thawed
• 2  tablespoons fresh thyme, chopped
• 1  teaspoon salt
• 1⁄2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 1⁄2 teaspoon  grated nutmeg

• Cheese Filling

• 32  ounces ricotta cheese (regular or lowfat, do not use fat free)
• 2  large eggs, at room temperature
• 1⁄2 teaspoon  finely grated lemon zest

• Noodles

• 9  no-boil lasagna noodles
• 1  lb  pencil-thin asparagus spear

Directions

1. Position oven rack in center of oven; preheat oven to 350°.
2. Make the sauce: heat a large pan over medium heat, add in butter and olive oil; when butter has almost melted, add the onion; cook, stirring often, until translucent, about 3 minutes.
3. Add in garlic; cook, stirring constantly, until aromatic, about 15 seconds.
4. Pour in the tomatoes and their juice along with the peas and carrots; stir well and bring mixture to a simmer.
5. Stir in the thyme, salt, pepper, and nutmeg; simmer just to blend the flavors and boil off a lot of the liquid, about 10 minutes.
6. You don’t want sauce as thick as ragu—more like a loose tomato sauce but beware of a watery sauce.
7. Remove pan from heat and set aside.
8. Cheese filling: whisk the ricotta, eggs, and lemon zest in a big bowl; do not beat—the ricotta should not turn watery.
9. Prepare asparagus: trim off any beige or woody ends; shave off the outer skin to ensure that the spears will be tender after they are baked.
10. If you asparagus is not pencil thin, shave down the spears with a vegetable peeler.
11. Assemble the lasagna in a 13 x 9 inch baking pan as follows: 1 cup tomato sauce spread across the bottom of the pan; 3 no-boil noodles; 1 ½ cups tomato sauce; half the cheese filling (use a rubber spatula to spread it evenly); half the asparagus spears (lay them tip to root in alternating directions); 3 more no-boil noodles; 1 ½ cups tomato sauce, the remaining cheese filling, the remaining asparagus spears, the remaining noodles, and finally the remaining tomato sauce.
12. Cover pan with a layer of parchment paper, then a layer of foil.
13. Bake for 35 minutes, then uncover the pan and continue baking until bubbling and gooey, about 10 minutes.
14. Let rest for 5-10 minutes before serving.