Monday, January 6, 2014

Creamy Vegetable Lasagna

This is my second attempt at a vegan lasagna and my first attempt at making the recipe up myself.  It's based on what I remember of Stouffer's frozen vegetable lasagna, which I've eaten twice in the last decade, except made vegan.  The Stouffer's lasagna was rich but didn't seem particularly cheesy because the cheese was mostly blended into a white sauce that took the place of the standard marinara.  I didn't limit myself on oil or salt this time around since my primary goal today was to make a vegan lasagna that actually tastes good, which is difficult enough.  I finished assembling it about an hour ago, but it won't be cooked and eaten for another couple hours, so I'll have to come back to this post and update it based on how the meal turns out.  So far I've just tasted the individual components, and they were good.

Ingredients
12 lasagna noodles (I like the oven-ready whole-wheat ones from Whole Foods.)
1 16 oz. package firm tofu
1 small yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups mixed vegetables, finely chopped (I used a combination of peas, broccoli, carrots, and spinach, mostly from my freezer, but I'm sure green beans and zucchini would also work well, among other things.)
1/4 tsp dried basil
Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
For Sauce:
2 14 oz. cans white beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup non-dairy milk (I used unsweetened almond milk.)
1 bulb roasted garlic
2 tbs olive oil, divided
3 tbs nutritional yeast
1 tbs Better-Than-Bouillon vegetable variety (This is totally a flavor cheat.  I rarely use Better-Than-Bouillon to make broth, but I have found it invaluable when I need to increase flavor and salt and have no idea what I'm doing.  I consider it a multipurpose American Flavor Paste.  I'm sure a patient person could recreate it with some spices, salt, and oil, but I'm not bothering finding out how today.)
1 tbs raw cashews, ground
1/4 tsp garlic salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, and prepare garlic and 1 tbs olive oil for roasting as explained in the link.

2. While the garlic bulb roasts, mix 1 tbs raw ground cashews and 1/4 tsp garlic salt in a small container.  I grind the cashews in my food processor and keep about a cup of this blend on hand in my fridge for when something needs vegan Parmesan-style crumbles sprinkled on top.

3. Heat remaining tablespoon olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Sweat onions for a few minutes, add garlic and carrots, and finally the remaining vegetables.  Season with basil, salt, and pepper, and cook everything until tender.

4. Drain tofu and blend it in a food processor.  Add about a quarter of the cooked vegetable mixture to the food processor and pulse until everything is incorporated.  Season with more salt to taste -- mine required an additional 1/8 tsp.  Set aside.

5. Put all sauce ingredients in a food processor or high-speed blender, including all the roasted garlic cloves, and blend until smooth.  (I'm not sure how this will cook up yet.  It's good as is at this point, but if it doesn't survive the lasagna-cooking process -- either from drying out or burning -- it might require more water or something.)

6. Increase oven to 375 degrees F.  Spray a large casserole dish lightly with Pam.  Add a thin layer of sauce, followed by lasagna noodles, followed by half the tofu mixture, followed by the remaining vegetable mixture, followed by half the remaining sauce, then another layer of lasagna noodles, then the remaining tofu mixture, then a final layer of lasagna noodles, then coat with the remaining sauce.  Sprinkle cashew/garlic salt mixture over the top, and cook in the oven for 30-40 minutes.  Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

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