Roasted Red Pepper And Portobello Mushroom Lasagna

For Sauce: In a large pot, heat oil over medium heat. Saute garlic, carrots, celery, onion, basil, oregano and hot pepper flakes for about 8 minutes or until very soft.

Add tomatoes and tomato paste and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, stirring often, for about 30 minutes or until very thick.

Using an immersion blender, puree until fairly smooth. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Let cool completely.

Alternatively, puree cooled sauce in an upright blender or food processor in batches as necessary.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Trim stems from mushrooms and slice caps into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Place on a foil-lined rimmed baking sheet and drizzle with oil and vinegar. Spread out in a single layer. Roast for about 10 minutes or until browned and tender. Let cool. Pat roasted red peppers dry with paper towel. Set aside.

For Cheese Filling: In a bowl, whisk eggs until blended. Blend in ricotta, basil, salt and pepper.

To Assemble: Grease a 13- x 9-inch baking dish. Trim lasagna noodles to fit baking dish (Use trimmings in a center layer and use whole noodles for bottom and top layers).

Spread 1 cup sauce in the bottom of prepared dish. Place one-quarter of the noodles on sauce. Spread with one-third of the remaining sauce, sprinkle with one-half each of the mushrooms and red peppers. Sprinkle with one-third of the shredded cheese.

Top with another quarter of noodles and spread with ricotta cheese filling. Place another quarter of noodles on top of filling and spread with another third of sauce. Sprinkle with remaining mushrooms and red peppers and another third of shredded cheese. Top with remaining noodles, spread with remaining sauce and sprinkle with remaining shredded cheese.

Refrigerate until cold, about 1 hour.

Cover top of dish with plastic wrap and wrap entire dish in heavy-duty foil. Freeze for up to 2 months. Lasagna can be thawed in the refrigerator for about 48 hours or baked from frozen.

To bake, remove plastic wrap and cover dish with greased foil. If thawed, bake at 375 degrees F for about 45 minutes. Uncover and bake for about 15 minutes longer or until center is hot and edges are bubbling.

If frozen, bake at 375 degrees F for about 2 hours or until center is warm. Uncover and bake for about 20 minutes longer or until center is hot and edges are bubbling, reducing oven temperature to 350 degrees F if edges are browning too quickly.

Let stand for 10 minutes before serving.

cook's notes

The baking dish will be quite full once the noodles cook during baking, so place a baking sheet on the rack below to catch any drips that overflow.