Lasagne

Everyone loves a good lasagne recipe to turn to. I have four brilliant lasagne recipes in my book, Veet’s Cuisine – Delicious Vegan Recipes, including the now-famous Artichoke and Pea (many people are making it in their cafés and catering businesses).

And now I am adding a 5th lasagne to the table. Mak loves a lasagne with lots of lasagne sheets and the recipes I have in my book only have 3 layers.

The recipe I share with you today is a more traditional lasagne, and to Mak’s delight, it has 5 layers. It’s a great way to hide veggies, especially cauliflower, which some people don’t like so much. You can hardly taste it in this recipe.

It freezes super well. If you plan to freeze it, layer it in smaller baking dishes or Pyrex containers and cook the lasagne for 10 minutes less than the lasagne packet instruction suggests. This way the lasagne sheets won’t be overcooked when reheated.

This is comfort food at its best!

Serves 8 with a salad

Ingredients

For the sauce

1.2 kg tomatoes (diced finely or you can use 3 cans of tomatoes)
4 cloves garlic minced
3 onions diced
Splash or two of olive oil
2 tbsp chopped oregano (or 2 tsp dried oregano)
Salt and pepper
Chilli cut fine (optional)
Handful of basil leaves chopped
Handful of spinach
200g cooked lentils (red, brown or green)

Lasagne Sheets

gluten free or wheat

Pumpkin layer

1kg pumpkin (weighed with skin on) then cut skin off and slice
2 tbsp olive oil

Béchamel

1 small cauliflower steamed until soft
2/3 cup soaked sunflower seeds
Salt and pepper to taste
½ to 1 cup soy milk
½ cup nutritional yeast
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 cloves garlic

Pepita sprinkle

½ cup pepitas toasted (in a frying pan with no oil until they pop and brown)
¼ cup nutritional yeast
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp salt

Garnish

2-3 tomatoes sliced or cherry tomatoes
10 basil leaves

Method

1. For the pepita sprinkle, place everything in a food processor until it forms a very fine crumb.
2. For the pumpkin layer, place the pumpkin slices on olive oil-lined trays. Put in 200°C oven for 20 minutes then turn the pumpkin over and bake until soft.
3. For the sauce, sauté the onion in olive oil for 5 minutes and add salt, don’t let the onion burn, make it translucent. Add the garlic and oregano and cook for 3 minutes. Next add the tomatoes and put the lid on and let the tomatoes break down. Once they have broken down, turn off the heat and take the lid off and let cool for 5 minutes. Then using a handheld blender stick blend the tomatoes.
4. Add the lentils and spinach and bring to the boil. Simmer until the sauce is nice and thick, then add the basil and cook for a further 2 minutes.
5. For the béchamel, place everything in the blender and blend until smooth, adding more soy milk if too thick. Adjust taste by adding salt and pepper.
6. To assemble the lasagne put:
   • 2 large spoons of sauce on the bottom of the lasagne dish
   • lasagne sheets
   • a layer of pumpkin
   • layer of béchamel
   • lasagne sheets
   • a layer of tomato sauce
   • lasagne sheets
   • a layer of pumpkin
   • lasagne sheets
   • a layer of tomato sauce
   • lasagne sheets
   • layer of béchamel
   • cover with pepita sprinkle then put the tomato slices on top
7. Bake in the oven for as long as the lasagne packet says then garnish with the basil leaves.

This recipe was first published on Veet Karen’s blog (veets.com.au/blog) where you will find a link to download the PDF file to print it out.

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Related articles

• Ahhhhhh, Lasagne! – Sarjano teaches us how to make vegetarian lasagne, one of the most known and most appreciated amongst traditional Italian dishes (Nov 2010)
• 16 years of Veet’s Vegan Cooking School – The story of Veet Karen’s successful venture in Australia, from catering to teaching (June 2024)

Veet

Passionate and ethical vegan cooking school facilitator. veets.com.au – facebook.com