And after a few weeks away, I'm back! I've recently made the decision to move to a flexitarian diet, so I'd say around 90-99% of my meals are vegetarian, or at the very least, meat-free. It's been exciting seeing what I could come up with in light of this change, and experimenting with new ingredients, creating dishes that don't rely on meat. Potentially one of my biggest successes however, has been this meat-free lasagna. It's not quite vegetarian, as I do make use of parmesan cheese in this recipe (which contains rennet), however, it is quite an easy switch if you'd like to make it vegetarian, or even vegan if you've got a vegan cheese you're fond of!
The below recipe will feed around 6-8 people, depending on your portion sizes. I used a pyrex dish size: 27 x 22 x 9cm.
Ingredients
Red Sauce
400gr carrots
300gr mushrooms
1 red onion
4 cloves garlic
50gr vegan butter
2 sprigs fresh thyme
200gr soy mince
2 cans chopped tomatoes in juice (800gr total)
2tsp bouillon powder (or 1 vegetable stock cube)
1/2tsp sumac
500ml water
Salt and pepper, to taste
Olive oil
Bechamel Sauce
50gr vegan butter
50gr plain flour
500ml oat milk
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/4tspn nutmeg
To Assemble
50gr parmesan, grated
250gr mozzarella, grated
300gr lasagna sheets
150gr fresh spinach
Method
1. Making the red sauce. Grate the carrots using a box grater. Set aside. Chop the mushrooms and onion finely and set aside, then mince the garlic.
2. In a large pot, add the butter and a drizzle of olive oil. Saute the onions, then add the grated carrots and chopped mushrooms. Cook until slightly softened, then add the garlic and fresh thyme (taken off the stalk). Cook for a further 5-10 minutes.
3. Add the soy mince and cook for a few minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes, bouillon powder, sumac, water, and salt and pepper. Allow the sauce to reduce for around 30-45mins, keeping an eye on it to make sure it doesn't burn, stirring occasionally.
4. Making the bechamel sauce. In a medium pot, melt the butter. Add the flour and whisk to incorporate until slightly golden, making a roux. Start adding the oat milk, whisking as you do so. Keep whisking until the roux is fully incorporated into the oat milk, and the sauce coats the back of a wooden spoon. Add the nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Set aside.
5. Assembling the lasagna. Grab your dish and add a slight layer of red sauce at the very bottom, ensuring to get all the corners. Place a layer of lasagna sheets on top. You may need to get a bit crafty and snap bits of lasagna sheets off to cover the base - this is not an issue and is something you'll likely have to do as you assemble the lasagna.
6. Add another layer of the red sauce on top of the lasagna sheets, adding some of the spinach on top of that, some of the bechamel sauce on top of the spinach, and around a handful or so of the grated parmesan and mozzarella on top of the bechamel. Repeat until your elements are finished off. I personally ended with a thin layer of red sauce, with cheese on top - others prefer ending with the bechamel on top. To clarify:
Lasagna sheets --> red sauce --> spinach --> bechamel --> cheese --> repeat
7. Once you've finished off assembling the lasagna, ideally allow it to sit in the fridge for around 6hrs-overnight. There's multiple reasons behind this.
a. Flavours tend to develop over time, meaning your sauce will be more flavourful the longer you allow it to sit.
b. More importantly, the lasagna sheets will soak up some of the moisture, softening them, and allowing the lasagna to bake quicker and more evenly.
8. Once you've allowed your lasagna to sit in the fridge, preheat your oven to 200 degrees celsius, fan. Bake for around 20-30 minutes. The top should be nice and golden. Allow to sit for around 10 minutes or so once out of the oven - this will allow for cleaner cuts.
9. Enjoy warm!
Recreating this recipe? Tag me on instagram @juliawgr!
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