This Mediterranean lasagna is a wonderful vegetarian pasta recipe complete with spinach, olives, and 3 types of cheese. Who doesn’t love lasagna? Check Out These Awesome, Classic Lasagna Everybody loves lasagna.
And what about cooking lasagna? Who loves boiling, draining, and handling those hot slippery noodles? Nobody, I think… We have a way to omit this irritating process.
Overnight Mediterranean Lasagna
Prepare your lasagna with raw noodles! Yes, raw-noodle Mediterranean lasagna! That’s the trick: you need to assemble your lasagna a day ahead and leave it in the fridge overnight.
This gives the noodles time to absorb the liquid and become tender. All you need is to bake your overnight Mediterranean lasagna.
If you do not want to wait for sooo long, you can always boil your noodles before assembling the dish. Bake and enjoy your lasagna the same day.
How to make vegetable lasagna not watery?
Runny lasagna is either a result of not properly drained, noodles or the sauce is too watery or the moisture comes from cheese.
If the moisture comes from cheese: choose well-aged cheeses in your Mediterranean lasagna. These cheeses are’ drier and you will receive less liquid at the end. If the moisture comes from the sauce: let your sauce simmer longer.
The sauce will reduce and become thicker. Or you can add some grated cheese to the sauce. This will also absorb the moisture.
If you use zucchini in your recipe: salt zucchini slices and let sit for 10 minutes. Pat dry them with a paper towel and bake for 10 minutes. Salt helps zucchini to lose its moisture, and baking makes them even drier.
When making lasagna do you cook the noodles first?
To cook noodles, or not to cook? That is the question. And thoughts differ. That’s because cooking the pasta is about more than just making it tender, it’s about hydrating and plumping each grain of flour.
Even if your sauce is watery, you won’t achieve such hydration without boiling. People believe, the final result won’t be bad if the pasta isn’t boiled, it just won’t be as good.
In my experience, there is no need to pre-cook the pasta. If your sauce is “wet” enough or if you add a little extra water or broth to your sauce, it looks fine!
Also lasagna slices better and retains its shape better, when portioning. But to cook or not to cook is only up to you.
What serves with lasagna?
We’ve found out how to cook Mediterranean lasagna, so let’s find out how to serve it. I love to have my lasagna with garlic bread. It’s my favorite combo!
But you can serve it with a simple green salad or arugula salad, breadsticks, antipasto platter, Italian fried zucchini flowers, roasted vegetables, etc. Just choose what tastes you more.
What drink goes with lasagna?
And what about drinks? What drink goes well with Mediterranean lasagna? As for me, the best choice is red wine. Acidic reds like Chianti or Pinot Noir and dry whites like Pinot Grigio pair perfectly with lasagna.
But it won’t be a crime when you eat your lasagna with a glass of beer or cold sparkling water.
Tips To Make Overnight Mediterranean Lasagna
– For gluten-free options use brown rice lasagna.
– If you want to tighten up your lasagna more, add a half cup panko breadcrumbs to the sauce just before you begin to assemble the lasagna.
– Feel free to use fresh spinach in this recipe.
HOW TO MAKE Overnight Mediterranean Lasagna
Ingredients
- 13 oz can basil flavored tomato sauce
- 1 1/2 oz sliced olives, drained
- 1 cup ricotta
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tbsp lemon juice, freshly squeezed
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 4-6 uncooked lasagna noodles
- 2 1/2 cups mozzarella, shredded
- 4 oz feta cheese, crumbled
- 5 oz frozen spinach, thawed and drained
Instructions
- In a bowl, combine tomato sauce, olives and water and mix well.
- In another bowl, combine ricotta cheese, lemon juice, and oregano, mix until combined.
- Prepare your lasagna dish. Spread 1/2 cup of sauce on the bottom of the dish. Arrange half of your lasagna noodles over the sauce, top noodles with 1/2 ricotta mixture, 1/2 cup of mozzarella, 1/2 of crumbled feta and spinach. Continue layering all remaining ingredients in the same order.
- Pour all remaining sauce on top. Cover with plastic wrap and transfer to the fridge overnight.
- On the next day uncover your lasagna and bake for 35 minutes. Take out of the oven, sprinkle with the remaining cup of mozzarella and return back to the oven for an additional 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and golden.
- Let sit 15 minutes before serving.
Notes
- There's a secret how to make perfect lasagna. Always follow this order: sauce, noodle, filling, repeat! Remember it.
- You can cover your lasagna with foil while baking first 35 minutes. If you leave your lasagna uncovered, it may become dry. Remove the foil before adding mozzarella and continue to cook.
- If your lasagna is cooked, but the top still looks pale, turn on the broiler for a few minutes. Take out from the oven once golden.
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Looks delicious! Do you think it would turn out ok if I used whole wheat noodles?