Vegan Lasagne *deluxxx*
Here we go. I’ve been making this for years now—it’s my go to when my people need a little extra love aka new moms, rainy days, etc.
It’s evolved over the years. What started as a full day labour of love is now a more streamlined process that includes a couple store bought easies to keep it approachable. Which is why I’m finally able to share it now! It was just too long and would scare most people away before.
I hope this serves the people in your life (yourself included) when they need a little extra love + comfort in their daily lives.
INGREDIENTS
Makes 1 large lasagna or 2 smaller ones
MEATY FILLING AKA RAGU
2 tbl olive oil
1 white onion, diced fine
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 handfuls of any mushrooms you love, diced fine
2 packages of your favourite vegan minced meat (I prefer Yves, but if you are normally a meat eater, you might like the beyond ground better)
+ any extra veg you want to hide in here! Dice it small, no one will know!
1 large jar of pasta sauce (we used the Rao’s marinara)
1 cup water
3 tbl tomato paste
2 tsp black pepper
1-2 tsp salt (this may differ based on which minced meat you use)
1-3 tsp red pepper flakes (as spicy as you like it!)
2 tsp oregano flakes or any Italian seasoning you have on hand
1 tsp miso paste (this adds depth, but not necessary)
CHEESY BÉCHAMEL SAUCE
1 cup vegan butter
1 cup all purpose flour
6 cups plant milk (soy/almond/oat)
2 tsp black peppercorns (whole)
1 white onion, rough chopped into 8
1/2 tsp salt
2 bay leaves
pinch nutmeg
2 handfuls vegan cheese shreds
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
INSTRUCTIONS
Preheat oven to 375.
Get your béchamel milk ready: in a medium saucepan add the milk, onion, bay leaves, nutmeg, peppercorn and salt. Place the saucepan over low heat & let it infuse while you cook everything else!
Let’s get the ragu going: heat your oil over medium heat in a large pot.
Add onions and sauté until translucent.
Add garlic + 1/2 the salt (a pinch).
Add mushrooms and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often. Once reduced in size and a lot of the water has cooked off, add the vegan minced meat, and salt, pepper, chilli flakes, and tomato paste. Cook and stir for 2 minutes.
Then add in the pasta sauce, miso paste and 1 cup of water. Stir to combine and then bring to a light bubble/simmer. Let it cook on the lowest setting until you are ready to use it. The longer is sits, the better depth of flavour! Feel free to add more water if it’s getting dry. You want a consistency similar to a Bolognese sauce — clumpy but loose?!
Back to the béchamel: Grab a medium size pot and heat the butter on low heat until it is all melted.
When the margarine is melted, continuously stir with a whisk and add the flour gradually. Keep stirring for a couple of minutes to cook out the flour. It should resemble a paste like consistency.
Here’s where it gets fun:
Strain the infused milk so you just have the warm milk left - no other bits!
Using a ladle or a large scoop spoon, gradually add about 1/2 cup of warm milk to the flour paste in the other pot. Steadily whisk it until it returns to a pasts consistency! Repeat this until all the warm milk is added.
Once you’ve added all the milk, the béchamel should be creamy. Add the nutritional yeast and vegan cheese and rapidly whisk until it’s super smooth again. You have yourself vegan béchamel! This is the best thing I learnt to make in the last year :)
Let’s build our lasagna!
Using one large or two small backing dishes, we’ll build the lasagne one layer at a time. Start with a small spoon of ragu on the bottom and then pasta sheets (no need to cook first), then ragu, béchamel, pasta sheets, and repeat until you use up all your ingredients / you’ve used all your baking dish! Make sure the top layer is béchamel.
Bake the lasagne in your oven for 45 minutes and then let sit for at least 15 minutes. Slice up and enjoy! This can also be prepped (build layers) and then stored in fridge until you are ready to bake it another day.
Please tag me in your creations!! I hope this gives you all the loving feelings :)