Vegetable Lasagne
Serves 12
Crowd Pleasers
Vegetarian
Brunch
This lasagne is fantastic for a luncheon, picnic or dinner party. My family prefers this one over meat lasagne!
It is a labour of love, so great to cook ahead on a lazy Saturday ... definitely worth it though!
Prep' time - 1 hour
Cooking time - 1¼ hours
Resting time - 30 minutes
Ingredients
- 375g fresh lasagne sheets, available from fridge section of supermarket.
Tomato Sauce:
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 4 x 400g tins tomatoes
- 8 cloves fresh, finely chopped
- 1 bunch basil
- ½ cup red wine
- 2 tablespoons beef stock powder, to taste
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- salt & pepper, to taste
White Sauce Ingredients:
- 2 litres skim milk, I use longlife UHT milk
- 200g butter
- 200g plain flour
- salt & pepper, to taste
Other ingredients:
- 500g mushrooms, store bought pre-sliced
- 250g baby spinach leaves
- 2 large sweet potatoes, washed & finely sliced using a mandoline, no need to peel.
- 2 large eggplants, washed & finely sliced using a mandoline
- ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil (for cooking eggplant)
- salt & pepper, to taste
- 2 cups grated cheese
Kitchen items you'll need:
- a kitchen mandoline, for slicing
- 2 large, flat oven trays
- 1 large, deep oven dish
Cooking Steps
1
To prepare marinated eggplant:
Preheat oven to 200°c (390°f). Toss thinly sliced eggplant in extra oil, salt, pepper. Next, place seasoned eggplant slices in single layers on lightly greased roasting trays. (you'll need about 2 large trays)
Roast marinated eggplant for approximately 15 minutes, until soft and opaque. When cooked, set eggplant aside.
To prepare sweet potato:
Next, lay thin slices on a lightly greased tray, lightly season with salt and roast in the already preheated oven for 15 minutes. Remove and set aside.
2
To make tomato sauce:
Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add basil stalks only, (set leaves aside). Add garlic and gently cook for 1 minute, then add red wine. Increase heat to high and add tinned tomatoes and a cup of water.
Bring sauce to the boil, and season with, salt, pepper, beef stock powder, and sugar.
Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes, stirring every five minutes. Stir in roughly chopped basil leaves. Remove sauce from heat and set aside.
3
To make white sauce:
Melt butter in a large pot, over a moderately high heat. When butter is melted, stir in flour to make a paste and cook for a further minute on high.
Next, gradually pour in all the milk, whisking as you pour to completely blend the milk with the butter/flour 'paste'. Reduce the heat on the stovetop from high to moderately high and continuously whisk the white sauce until in thickens to a thickish gravy like consistency.
When white sauce is ready, remove from heat to stop any further thickening (it will thicken slightly more as it cools) and season to taste with salt and pepper.
4
To assemble lasagne:
Use a large oven proof roasting dish to layer half the tomato sauce and half roasted eggplant over the base, then cover with a layer of lasagne sheets.
Next, add a layer of sliced mushrooms and baby spinach. Cover this with approximately quarter of the white sauce, gently spread over the whole surface, followed by a layer of sweet potato and then another layer of lasagne sheets.
Repeat the tomato sauce and eggplant layer, lasagne sheet and then the mushroom, spinach and quarter of the white sauce layer.
Finish with a layer of lasagne sheets, the remaining half (approximately) of the white sauce topped with grated cheese.
* See pictures below
5
To cook lasagne:
Place lasagne in a preheated, 200°c (390°f) oven for approximately 45 minutes or until golden brown. Turn the oven off and allow lasagne to rest in the oven an extra 10 minutes.
Remove from oven and rest for an extra 20 minutes before cutting and serving.
Serve warm with salad ... enjoy!
Important tip: All or some, elements of this dish can be made a day ahead, (at least), placed in containers, refrigerated & then assembled on the day of cooking.