Vegetarian Lasagne

Hello everyone! For last week’s Meatless Monday edition, I shared a recipe for a homemade tomato based pasta sauce (“Pasta Sauce”), if you missed it, you can click here for the recipe.

I did mention in that post that the Pasta Sauce makes a great addition to lasagnes or as a base for any tomato sauce based pasta dish. Following on from that, I thought it would be nice to share a recipe that actually uses the said Pasta Sauce with you. As such, for this week’s Meatless Monday’s post, I am going to be sharing a recipe for vegetarian lasagne.

I am not going to fool you by saying this is an easy recipe to make in 30 minutes. I know the back of lasagne boxes say that it is possible to make lasagne in that amount of time. Again, let me tell you from the onset that it is not possible with this recipe. You can take it as a deterrence or as a challenge. I hope you embrace the challenge.

I can however tell you that the task will be easier if you have the Pasta Sauce on hand. If you have frozen it, remember to thaw it out completely before using in this recipe. Now remember, with a bit of planning this is actually not that difficult. Just prepare each component of the dish first and assembling the final dish will be manageable.

You will note from the photos that I did not use any white sauce in the vegetarian lasagne. This was solely based on vanity reasons. However, I do usually make this lasgane with the white sauce and it admittedly does taste better with the white sauce. For your benefit, I have included the recipe for it, so once again, whether you choose to include or omit it, the choice is entirely yours.

I am submitting this recipe to Pasta Please which is a monthly pasta recipe challenge where the challenge this month is to come up with a pasta recipe that contains garlic. This month the challenge is being hosted by The Spicy Pear and Tinned Tomatoes. I am also submitting this recipe to the Spice Trail, which is a monthly recipe challenge that celebrates cooking with spices. It is hosted by Bangers and Mash and the challenge this month is to come up with a recipe that uses paprika.

Recipe for Vegetarian Lasagne

Prep Time: 1 hour 15 minutes (not including time for making Pasta Sauce)/ Baking Time 50 minutes / Yields: 6 generous portions

You will need a deep casserole dish

Ingredients

Vegetables for Blending

500gm Carrots

500gm Celery

200gm Onions

(Blend all the above three ingredients together in a food processor)

Vegetables for Grilling

1 Aubergine (sliced)

1 Green Bell Pepper (sliced)

1 Red Bell Pepper (sliced)

350gm Button Mushrooms (sliced)

Olive Oil for grilling

(Season these three ingredients with salt and pepper – to be grilled)

3 Tbsp Olive Oil

800ml Pasta Sauce

½ Tbsp minced Garlic

½ Tbsp Salt

¼ Tbsp Paprika

¼ tsp Pepper

¼ tsp Chilli Flakes (optional)

10-12 Lasagne Sheets (about ¾ of a box, depending on the size of your casserole and the size of your sheets. I used dried lasagne sheets that did not require any pre-cooking)

250gm Mozzarella Cheese

Ingredients for White Sauce

250ml Double Cream

1 Tbsp All Purpose Flour

1 Tbsp Cooking Oil

¼ Tbsp Salt

½ tsp Paprika

Method

1. Roughly chop the carrots, celery and onion. Place the chopped up pieces in a food processor and blend until fine. Set the blended vegetables aside.

2. Next, pour the olive oil into a deep pot and heat over medium-high heat. Once hot, add in the blended celery, carrots and onions and stir fry for approximately 10 minutes. Next, add in 800gm of Pasta Sauce and the minced garlic, salt, paprika, pepper and chilli flakes. Simmer the sauce over medium heat for 15-20 minutes. Once cooked, remove pot from heat and set the sauce aside.

3. The next step is to grill the sliced aubergine, bell peppers and mushrooms. Place a grill pan over medium-high heat, add some olive oil and grill the vegetables in batches. Once grilled, set the vegetables aside.

4. Next, make the white sauce. Place a small pot over medium-heat. Add the oil, pepper, salt and flour into the pot. Whisk everything together evenly and bring to the boil, then slowly add in the cream. Turn down the heat and stir mixture for about 5 minutes to cook evenly. Once cooked remove and set aside.

5. Now that all the components of the lasagne are ready, it is time to assemble the dish. Begin by pre-heating the oven to 200°C. Next, grease the casserole dish with a little olive oil. Lay a layer of lasagna sheets over the base of the dish for the first layer. Spoon a generous amount of the Pasta Sauce mixture over the sheets. Smooth out the mixture to ensure that the lasagne sheets are properly and thoroughly covered (Note: Do ensure that the lasagne sheets thoroughly covered with pasta sauce as there is no pre-cooking of the lasagne sheets, you need enough sauce for the lasagne sheets to effectively cook and softened while baking. If there is not enough sauce, the lasagne sheets will get crisped up and harden). Follow this by layering the grilled aubergine slices on top of the Pasta Sauce mixture. The first layer is now complete.

Lay the foundations of the lasagne

Cover the first layer of lasagne sheets
with the Pasta Sauce mixture

Top off with grilled aubergine slices

6. Now, repeat the process for the second layer. Lay a layer of lasagne sheets over the grilled aubergine slices. Spoon a generous amount of the Pasta Sauce mixture over the sheets. Smooth out the mixture to ensure that the lasagne sheets are properly and thoroughly covered. Follow this by layering the grilled red and green bell peppers and mushrooms on top of the Pasta Sauce mixture. The second layer is now complete.

Laying on the Bell Peppers

Followed by grilled mushrooms

7. Lay a last layer of lasagne sheets over the grilled bell peppers and mushrooms. Follow that with a generous portion of Pasta Sauce. Finally, top it all off with the White Sauce.

Last layer of lasagne sheets

Top off with Pasta Sauce mixture (and White Sauce if using)

8. Cover the casserole with aluminium foil, tent it up at the top and ensure that the foil does not touch the white sauce. Place in the pre-heated oven and bake for 45 minutes. After 45 minutes, remove the lasagne from the oven and remove the foil. Sprinkle on the mozzarella cheese and put the lasagne back in the oven uncovered. Turn the oven function to “grill”. Bake the lasagne under the grill for a further 5 minutes or until the cheese has melted and browned. Once done, remove from oven and serve. Any leftovers can be packed in containers and refrigerated for up to 3 days or in the freezer if you want to keep it for longer.

Cover the casserole with aluminium foil before baking

Finish off with Mozzarella cheese