I'm so busy this week, but I wanted to post this. Vegan Lasagna!
So many vegan lasagnas only use tofu instead of ricotta. It's alright, but it's not great. So, I still used tofu, but the base was grated cauliflower, tamari sauce, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, onion powder and a smidgen of smoky paprika.
I started by preparing the base and then crumbling in the extra-firm tofu. Set it aside while grating the rest of the veg: broccoli, peppers, courgette, carrots and the non-woody stalks of asparagus.
Then add those greeted veggies to a heated pan with olive oil and sauté until tender. This helps reduce the water content and helps build flavour. I was in a rush, so I used canned pasta sauce.
I decided to grill the aubergine instead of grating it. So, just in a hot skillet, I seared it with a bit of olive oil. The spinach also seemed to be too good to chuck through a grater, so I wilted it quickly with olive oil. And salt! Carefully season everything after it's been reduced/seared/sweated.
Sometime when all of this was going on, I boiled the lasagne noodles. You could totally go gluten free, but these are just regular wheat noodles. Either way, be sure not to over cook them. Just soften them - ultra al dente? They'll get more cooking in the oven.
Then, begin building the dish: layer sauce, noodle, spinach and then "ricotta" filling until the dish is almost full. Be sure the top layer is sauce, and that the noodles are fully covered - otherwise they get hard and dry. Then arrange extra veg on the top. I think this makes a nice addition to any lasagna. I topped it with asparagus spears, tomatoes, olives and more grilled eggplant.
Bake for about 30-45 minutes.
I served it with a fresh sprig of basil and a drizzle of aged balsamic and olive oil.
