Roasted Vegetable Lasagna Rollup Recipe

Rather than laying out lasagna the traditional way across a casserole dish and then having to cut pieces, I like the idea of individual rolled pieces that this Roasted Vegetable Lasagna Rollups Recipe calls for. it’s a great to portion out servings for a group. They are easy to make, and by roasting the vegetables it adds more flavor and is a great alternative to meat lasagna. A little red pepper adds a subtle little additional kick.

It may look like this has a lot of ingredients, but it’s really based on you

Ingredients:

• 12 long lasagna noodles- you want them to be longer and not the short ones that you put two across in a dish in order to have enough to roll them. You can use regular or whole wheat pasta if you want these healthier – I used regular.
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil, divided with 2 tablespoons for the roasted vegetables
• 4 cups finely chopped vegetables- you can just use spinach, but since I knew some guests I was sharing this with were not a fan of cooked spinach I used a mix of frozen vegetables I had in the freezer that I had to use as my freezer was no longer freezing- carrots, peas, carrots, asparagus tips, squash… your choice! Fresh vegetables are better than frozen, but frozen is easy. Your call here too.
• 1 teaspoon of chopped sage
• 1 teaspoon of cumin
• 15 oz part-skim ricotta cheese (1 container)
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 1/2 tablespoon chopped oregano
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder (or you can use a close of minced garlic to up the garlic level!)
• 3 1/4 cups shredded Italian cheese, such as mozzarella, Parmesan, Romano, or a blend, divided into 3 cups for the filling and 1/2 cup for topping. I like using a blend as the various cheeses rather than one cheese adds more depth but just using low fat mozzarella is healthier
• Salt ( to taste)
• Freshly ground black pepper
• At least approximately 3 1/2 cups of your favorite marinara sauce
• 1 teaspoon of red pepper
• Optional- Parmesan for topping

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees F. In a aluminum foil lined 13×9 pan, spread the vegetables and then spread the 2 tablespoon of olive oil so all the vegetables are coated. Now season with the salt, pepper, 1 teaspoon of chopped sage, 1 teaspoon of cumin, and roast for about 40 minutes. Remove and let cool. Now I decided to roast with those seasonings but you can get away with simple salt and pepper,  especially if using fresh vegetables.
2. While the veggies are roasting, boil the water and then place the lasagna noodles in until al dente. Strain out the hot water and run cool water over it for 20 seconds or so until you can handle the noodles. Drain the water and distribute 1 tablespoon of olive oil among the noodles so they don’t stick together
3. While the noodles were cooking, I made the mixture by combining the ricotta cheese, 2 cups cheese, 1 egg, parsley, and oregano in a bowl. Stir all together until well combined.
   
4. Spray the 13×9 baking dish with cooking spray. Line bottom with a little bit of the marinara sauce so that nothing will be sticking to it- this might be about 1/2 to 3/4 cup. I admit I used two baking dishes, so I did this twice to lay out 6 Noodle rolls on each.
5. Lay out a work space- I did this with wax paper. Lay the lasagna noodles flat on this surface. Take 2 1/2 tablespoons of the ricotta filling and spread evenly over noodle. Now spread on top of the ricotta some of of the roasted vegetables and then top with 1 tablespoon of the marinara sauce. Carefully loosely roll and place seam side down into the baking dish. Repeat with remaining noodles.
   
6. Top rolled noodles with remaining sauce- make sure you cover all the lasagna noodle edges so it doesn’t dry out. Sprinkle the 1 teaspoon of red pepper over everything and then top with the remaining cheese. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.
   
7. Remove foil and bake for additional 10 minutes, or until cheese is melted on the top.
8. Remove from oven let cool for 10 minutes before serving. Optionally, serve with Parmesan cheese and a grater that your guests can grate what amount they desire!

This was a great potluck dish to make for one of our Game of Thrones nights, and is a main dish that gets your vegetables in too! I had the idea to print out the various sigils of the houses, cut them out and put them on toothpicks to perhaps mark each of the various roll-ups, but never did do it but thought it could be a fun extra touch.

Have you made lasagna in these roll form before? What vegetables would you try?