Pesto Lasagna

First, blanch the lasagna noodles for a couple of minutes in a pot of salted boiling water. Then drain them (keeping some hot water for the pesto sauce) and dry the pasta sheets on a cloth.

Put all the ingredients for the pesto sauce in a blender and blend until you have a smooth sauce. If the sauce is too thick add some more water. The final result has to be rather fluid because the lasagna will need some moisture for the baking.

For the bechamel sauce: Heat the milk in a pot over medium low heat. In a saucepan melt the butter over medium heat then whisk in the flour. When the butter and the flour are well mixed, start to pour in little by little the hot milk whisking all the time. You should obtain a thin sauce without lumps. Now, if you have a microwave, transfer the sauce into a microwave safe bowl and put it in the microwave at maximum power for 2 minutes. Then take it out, whisk it and put it back in the microwave for another 2 minutes. Whisk again and if the sauce is too thin repeat the process one last time. If you do not have a microwave, put the saucepan back on the stove at low/medium heat and bring the sauce to boil whisking all the time. When the sauce has thickened, take it from the stove. Finally, season the béchamel sauce with salt and ground nutmeg, and let it cool.

Peel the boiled potatoes and cut them into slices of around 1 cm thickness.

Mix the pesto sauce with 2/3 of the béchamel sauce (set the other 1/3 of the bechamel sauce aside). Taste and add more salt if necessary. You will use the rest of the béchamel sauce for the topping.

Preheat the oven at 200°C.

Grease a baking dish (35x25x7 cm or similar) with 2-3 tablespoons of butter. Put down a first layer of pesto sauce, followed by one layer of lasagna noodles and finally one layer of boiled vegetables (French beans and potatoes). Repeat these layers until you finish your ingredients, the last layer has to be a layer of lasagna noodles. Top the lasagna with the reserved béchamel sauce that you previously put aside. Lastly garnish with some butter chunks and sprinkle with grated Parmigiano cheese.

Put the lasagna in the oven on the middle rack and bake it for 40 minutes. The lasagna is ready when the top is a nice golden crust. Serve it hot.

You can prepare the lasagna the day before and bake it only at the last moment.