30 June 2016

Vegetable Lasagne


The hardest thing I have found since becoming completely vegetarian five weeks ago is finding replacement for my old favourite meals, those comfort foods you turn to when it's cold and rainy outside or you've had a bad day, but week by week as I try new dishes or as I make up my own those old favourites are slowly being replaced with new meat free ones. 


Everyone in my family loves lasagne, and I had looked at a lot of different vegetarian options, but found that a lot of them use eggplant which I like, but unfortunately neither of my girls do. In desperation, I decided that I would just make it up as I went along and luckily it turned out to be delicious and it was a hit with everyone and instantly became a new favourite. I hope you enjoy it as much as we did.



Vegetable Lasagne

Author - Jan McMaster
Prep. time - 35 minutes
Cooking time - 45 minutes
Serves 6

Ingredients

  • 120g spinach
  • 3 cups of mixed mushroom (Swiss brown and button)
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 100g feta cheese (I used full fat)
  • Butter or olive oil to cook mushrooms
  • Lasagne sheets 
  • Mozzarella or parmesan or three cheese mix

Béchamel Sauce

  • 6 tablespoons butter
  • 6 tablespoons cornflour (or plain flour if preferred)
  • 750ml milk
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Pasta Sauce

  • 2 cans diced tomatoes
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons tomato paste
  • Small handful of basil
  • 1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano 
  • 2 sprigs thyme
  • 1 clove garlic, minced

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 180°C. 
  2. Place a steamer basket over a pot of water containing about 2.5cms of water. 
  3. Set on stove over high heat, when the water starts to boil, reduce heat to low and simmer until spinach is just starting to wilt. You may need to turn the spinach over with tongs to help it wilt evenly.
  4.  Remove pot from heat. 
  5. Place butter or olive oil into a large fry pan and set over medium-high heat, add first clove of garlic to the pan and sauté, stirring occasionally, being careful not to let the garlic burn. 
  6. Add mushrooms and cook until golden brown. 
  7. Remove mushrooms from pan and set aside.

To make béchamel sauce

  1. Over a low heat, add butter to a medium-sized pot and melt, then add nutmeg. 
  2. Add cornflour and cook, stirring for one minute. 
  3. Remove from heat and slowly add milk while stirring constantly. 
  4. Place pot back on stove over medium-high heat and stir continuously until sauce bubbles and thickens. 
  5. Remove pot from stove.

To make pasta sauce

  1. Add olive oil to fry pan and heat over a medium-low heat; add remaining garlic clove and sauté, stirring occasionally being careful not to let the garlic burn. 
  2. Add diced tomatoes, tomato paste, basil, oregano and thyme to pot, stir to combine, and bring to a boil. 
  3. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook tomatoes until they have reduced and sauce has thickened.
  4.  Remove from heat.

Putting it all together

  1. Spread a thin layer of pasta sauce over the bottom of a 33cm x 22cm rectangular dish. 
  2. Place a layer of lasagne sheets, then half the mushrooms and half the spinach, crumble half of the feta cheese over the top. 
  3. Spread half of the béchamel sauce over this and then top with half of the pasta sauce. 
  4. Add another layer of lasagne sheets, the remaining mushrooms, spinach and feta. 
  5. Pour over the last of the béchamel and remaining pasta sauce.

Cover dish in aluminium foil and place dish in the oven and cook for 30 minutes. Remove dish from oven and sprinkle mozzarella or parmesan or three cheese mix over the top of the pasta sauce. Return to oven for another 15 minutes or until cheese is melted and golden brown. Serve with a garden salad, chips or garlic bread.

* A nice addition to this dish and what I intend to do next time would be some orange sweet potato or pumpkin cut into bite size pieces and roasted until just tender.

Please note - You are more than welcome to share my recipes on your own blog providing that you link back to mine and that you do not claim the recipe as your own.

4 comments:

  1. I made a Veggie Lasagna a few weeks ago too and your post has me thinking it might be time for another one!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Do you have the recipe on your blog? Is it similar to mine?

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    2. Hi, Jan. Here is the link to the I use most often for veggie lasagna.
      http://ahopefulnature.blogspot.com.au/2016/06/healthy-veggie-lasagna.html
      I hope you get a chance to make it. Meg:)

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