Today I’m sharing a clever recipe: the super quick lasagna made with sandwich bread or loaf bread.
An easy and tasty dish that will make everyone happy: your kids because it’s delicious, your husbands because it’s filling, and you cooks because you can prepare a great meal with very little effort and time.
This recipe isn’t my brainchild, and I feel the need to say that whoever invented it is a genius 😃 because it has saved me many lunchtime woes. On my own, years ago, I had a similar idea of using loaf bread to make mini pizzas. It was a quick way to say “pizza tonight!” 😄 without feeling guilty since my kids loved them when they were little.
However, honestly, I would never have thought of using loaf bread for a recipe that could be a Sunday special if I hadn’t stumbled upon a recipe on the blog Cucina con fantasia (update: unfortunately, no longer linkable). It was a revelation for me, I immediately tried the recipe, and then I repeated it three times because it truly is a clever recipe that I highly recommend trying!
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Below are more quick ideas for children (+ a very useful collection): 👇
- Difficulty: Very Easy
- Cost: Cheap
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 6
- Cooking methods: Stovetop, Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All Seasons
Ingredients
- 14 oz sandwich bread (2 packages)
- vegetable ragout (*)
- 1 mozzarella
- 3.5 oz fontina
- parmesan
- breadcrumbs
Tools
- Baking Pan
Steps
Prepare the vegetable ragout.
For this recipe, I made it with 1 carrot, 1 stalk of celery, 1 zucchini, ½ onion, and 14 oz of tomato puree, but you can vary to your liking.
👉 I like ragouts with coarsely chopped vegetables because they result in hearty sauces while remaining simple vegetable-based tomato sauces, just a bit “enriched.” Plus, it’s a painless method I’ve devised to get my kids to eat vegetables, which they miraculously don’t mind and happily eat.
👉 Alternatively, I recommend trying this sauce with asparagus stalks, or using the vegetable ragout with soy granules.
Chop the vegetables with a mixer, fry them in a little oil, then after a few minutes, add the tomato puree, oregano, or basil to taste, and cook for about 20 minutes.
When the sauce is ready, dice the mozzarella and fontina, or other cheese, and start assembling the lasagna: in a baking pan, arrange the sandwich bread slices, pour vegetable ragout and diced cheese over each layer as desired. Continue layering until all ingredients are used.
☝ In the absence of sandwich bread, you can also use classic loaf bread.
Finish with a sprinkle of grated parmesan and breadcrumbs.
Bake at 400-430°F (200-220°C) for 15-20 minutes, or until the surface is golden. No actual cooking is necessary; what matters is that it’s gratinated.
I recommend serving these sandwich bread lasagnas hot but not scalding, or better yet, warm.
Salt-Free Advice
I remind you that I cook without adding salt. 😉
If you are interested in reducing or eliminating salt, always remember to:
■ Reduce salt gradually, the palate must get used to it slowly and should not notice the progressive reduction.
■ Use spices. Chili pepper, pepper, curry, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, cumin…
■ Use aromatic herbs. Basil, parsley, oregano, thyme, sage, marjoram, rosemary, mint…
■ Use seeds. Sesame, pine nuts, almonds, walnuts…
■ Use spicy vegetables or fruit. Garlic, onion, lemon, orange…
■ Use my salt-free vegetable granules
■ Prefer fresh foods.
■ Avoid cooking in water, prefer cooking methods that do not disperse flavors (grill, foil, steam, microwave)
■ Avoid bringing the salt shaker to the table!
■ Occasionally allow yourself a break from the rule. It’s good for the mood and helps to persevere.
If you do not want, or cannot, give up salt:
■ You can still try my recipes by salting according to your habits.
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