Dairy-free cooking can be tricky, especially with Italian food, but this lasagna will fool even the carnivorous cheese fanatics in your household or social circle.
Vegan Lasagna Recipe:
Ingredients
- 2 cans Garbanzo Beans
- 1 large bag frozen Spinach
- 1 package Lasagna Noodles
- 2 cans stewed Tomatoes
- 2 jars your favorite Spaghetti Sauce
- 1 can Artichoke Hearts
- 1 carton Mushrooms, sliced
- 2 small cans sliced Olives or 1 jar whole green Olives
- 1 large Eggplant, sliced
- 1 Yellow Onion, chopped
- 1 Large Bottle Olive Oil (flavored or plain)
- Garlic Salt
- Oregano
- 8x8 casserole dish
*You may, of course, use fresh garbanzos and veggies if you choose, cans are just quicker and easier.
Preparing the Ingredients
- To begin, place a large pan of water, with a pinch of salt, on the stove top at medium heat. When it begins to boil, add the pasta. Stir occasionally, being careful not to tear the noodles.
- While the pasta softens, begin the garbanzo mash.
- The key to this recipe's success is the preparation of the garbanzo bean and spinach mash, as this wil be your ricotta substitute. A food processor is easiest for this, but a regular mixer will do fine as well. You will however, want to make a foil "tent" over the bowl if you are using a regular mixer, so the beans don't all fly out. Place the garbanzo beans and a generous amount of olive oil into the food processor or mixing bowl. Blend until all lumps are gone. This can take awhile, but it is integral. Keep adding olive oil as needed.
- While the Garbanzo are blending, sautee the onions, eggplant, and mushrooms in Olive oil at low heat.
- Don't forget to keep moving the pasta around a bit, so that it doesn't stick to the pan.
- When the Garbanzo Beans are smooth, (with a consistency comparable to ricotta), add the spinach. It is not necessary to thaw the spinach first, but if you are putting frozen spinach into your mixer, be careful to put in only a little at a time. You will probably want to add more olive oil at this point, as well as your garlic salt and spices.
- Drain the olives and artichoke hearts. The artichoke hearts will probably be packed in salt water and will need to be rinsed.
- Strain the noodles and allow them to cool.
- In a large bowl or pan, mix the spaghetti sauce, tomato paste, olives and any extra spices you choose.
Layering the Ingredients
- Place the first layer of lasagna noodles along the bottom of your olive oil greased pan.
- Next, spread a thick layer garbanzo and spinach mash over the noodles.
- Layer about 1/3 of sauteed mushrooms, eggplant slices, and onion on top of the garbanzo and spinach mash.
- A thick layer of sauce comes next. Make sure you cover the veggies completely.
- On top of the sauce, place a layer of artichoke.
- Repeat steps 1-5 until your pan is full or you run out of ingredients.
You will generally get 2 or 3 layers. It looks nice to end with a final layer of artichokes.
Serving Preparation
You will notice that all the ingredients in the lasagna are now fully cooked. It can now be stored in the refrigerator or warmed in the oven at 350, for about 10 minutes and served immediately.
If you are heating after refrigeration, it may need 15-20 minutes to heat all the way through.
This dish goes nicely with olive oil and garlic toast.
Variations on Vegan Lasagna
- If you are non-dairy, but not a vegetarian, you may like to add ground beef to your sauce. This can help further distract your tastebuds from the non-dairy aspect, but it really isn't necessary.
- You may prefer to mix the sauteed eggplant, onion and mushrooms in with your sauce, eliminating step 3. If you do this, you will probably want to chop the mushrooms and eggplant, rather than just slicing them.
- If you really miss the cheesey aspect, try a layer of soy mozzarella on top.
- Try using a curly quinoa pasta, instead of lasagna noodles, for a gluten-free and extra nutritious Italian casserole.
Heidi Griffin - Heidi has written for numerous local newspapers and magazines, as well as several internet sites. She specializes in film theory and ...
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