Alexa Weibel’s vegetarian lasagna Bolognese.Credit…Linda Xiao for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini.
Hi, everyone! Mia here, filling in for Tanya this week.
Something about me: I am not a great tour guide. My family is coming to visit for the holidays in a couple of weeks, and you’d think I would have fun activities planned for us. A museum outing here, a dance performance there and a slate of restaurant reservations at the hottest tickets in town — I have none of these on the agenda.
What I do have, however, is a list of recipes I want to make with them. The operative word here being “with.” My mom and brother will be my sous-chefs, chopping and stirring, shouting out instructions and gently nosing the dog away from the shredded cheese that has fallen on the floor.
Which brings me to my first group project: vegetarian lasagna. Specifically Alexa Weibel’s vegetarian lasagna Bolognese, which uses a rich vegan Bolognese built on walnuts and mushrooms. I might swap in Ali Slagle’s vegetarian Bolognese, though. Her recipe adds cauliflower to the traditional soffritto mix to bulk up the sauce, and I’m on a mission to convince my brother that cauliflower is actually delicious — employing it as the backbone of his favorite sauce in his favorite dish feels like a good way to go.
Vegetarian Lasagna Bolognese
View this recipe.
I’ve also promised my mom a hand-pulled noodle night. I’m a big fan of Vivian Chan-Tam’s recipe (with video), which produces wonderfully chewy ribbons to coat with your sauce and toppings of choice. Will our noodles turn out picture-perfect? Probably not! But I can say from experience that even the wonkiest, irregular hand-pulled noodles are still delicious, especially when tossed with chile crisp and a snowfall of scallions.
