Cooking for a pregnant woman takes some thoughtfulness. They have cravings. They get nauseated. And sometimes they even crave what might make them nauseated. It can be a tricky path to navigated, but when you nail it, you can get a very happy friend.
I have had a lot of experience cooking for pregnant people in the last couple of years, since a few of my friends have recently had babies.
One, really wanted a chicken pot pie as soon as she got home from the hospital. Done. She didn’t have many food aversions.
Another friend, though, has struggled with nausea almost her whole pregnancy. But the end is in sight for her and we were having a baby shower for her to celebrate. There was a lot of discussion about what to make. We wanted it to be nice, and on the upscale side, but also something that would satisfy Kristan without making her sick.
Because we were having the dinner in a place with no access to an oven, we were limited by what we could do to some extent. Something room temperature or something that could be baked and stay warm right before the dinner started would work best. So, we decided on a lasagna of sorts.
I almost didn’t want to call this a lasagna. It is so superior to your typical red sauce with ricotta. It got rave reviews (especially from the expecting guest) and was upscale enough to work for a special dinner, in a nice setting.
Because we were quadrupling the proportions, it did take me and another helper the better part of the day to make this. But again, it was worth the effort. Nothing about it was difficult, it was just a tiny bit time consuming.
While I am providing the recipe for the version we cooked with sausage, we did a similar dish which left out the sausage. We added a few veggies and some toasted pine nuts and it was just as good as well so you can easily adapt this to suit vegetarians.
It was nice for a party for several reasons, not the least of which was that people loved it. We were able to make it earlier in the day, then clean up and bake it so it could come out of the oven and be served warm right before we ate.
We served this was warm bread, a winter salad and some cookies for dessert and it was so good, I think I am going to make the dish again at Christmas.
Lemon, Kale and Sausage Lasagna
Ingredients
- 1onion, peeled and diced
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup flour
- 3 cups whole milk
- 1 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese (about 4 ounces)
- Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
- 5 cups coarsely chopped spinach and kale
- 1 pound spicy turkey sausage, casing removed
- 1 log goat cheese, crumbled
- 1 lemon, very thinly sliced, seeds removed
- 6 no-boil lasagna noodles
Instructions
- Start by caramelizing an onion in a skillet over high heat. Once the onion starts to brown, turn down the heat to low and continue to cook for close to an hour when the onion is sweet.
- In a separate pot, melt butter over high heat. Stir in flour; cook for 2 minutes. Whisk in milk. Bring to a boil, stirring. Reduce heat. Simmer for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Whisk in 3/4 cup cheese, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Stir in spinach and kale. Add the caramelized onion and mix to combine.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cook sausage in a skillet over high heat, breaking up pieces, until no longer pink, about 4 minutes.
- Cover lemon slices with cold water by 3 inches in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer for 7 minutes. Transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate using a slotted spoon.
- Spread 1/4 cup sauce in an 8-inch square nonreactive baking dish. Top with 2 noodles, half the sausage, half the goat cheese and 1 cup sauce. Repeat. Top with 2 noodles, then remaining sauce and lemons. Add the remaining grated parmesan to the top and bake, covered with foil for about 30 minutes, or until bubbly.
- Turn the broiler on and uncover lasagna. Broil until bubbling, and lightly browned (about 2 to 3 minutes).
