Lasagna with meat replacement
"Meat" sauce:
1 tablespoon olive oil
100g of pretend ham or bacon - not essential
1 onion - finely chopped
1 carrot - finely chopped
1 stick of celery - finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic - crushed
500g of "mince" equivalent
5 tablespoons of tomato paste
2 cups water
1 stock cube (pretend chicken or vegetable)
Cheese sauce:
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons plain flour
2 cups (500ml) of full cream milk
125g of mozarella cheese (in cubes or shredded)
Lasagne sheets, salt, pepper, nutmeg.
I usually use dry "instant" lasagna sheets such as "San Remo" 250g packet.
Sanitarium make some awesome meat alternatives. They make great "not-bacon" and a "deli slice" ham alternative - which are both found in the fridge section. They make a mince which is okay. I first started this recipe with TVP (textured vegetable protein), when Sanitarium used to have a dry boxed version of pre-flavoured TVP mince. Now I use whatever TVP mince is available in the health food aisle and flavour it with stock before using it.
Massel make great vegetarian stocks - in vegetable, chicken and beef flavours. -see the picture in the panel to the right ->
Preheat the oven to 180degrees C. You will need a large baking dish of approximately 35cm by 25cm.
Meat sauce:
Gently fry the "ham", onion, carrot, celery and garlic in the olive oil until they start to brown. Add the "mince" and simmer. Stir in the tomato paste, and the stock cube dissolved in some of the water. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Continue to simmer and add enough water to allow the mixture to be easily stirred. There needs to be plenty of fluid when the lasagna is assembled or else the dry lasagne sheets will not cook well. Adjust the flavour of the sauce with salt and pepper once you have got the sauce to the fluid consistency you are happy with.
Cheese sauce:
Melt the butter and stir in the flour. Cook gently for a couple of minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the milk. Gently simmer the mixture until thick and smooth, stirring constantly - don't let the bottom burn. Season with salt and pepper. Add the mozzarella and stir until the cheese is melted and stirred through.
Assemble the Lasagne:
Choose a large baking dish (roasting pan size). Place a layer of lasagna sheets on the bottom, followed by a layer of meat sauce, another layer of lasagna then cheese sauce.
I like to use lasagna sheets between all layers, as it keeps the layers separate. Make sure there is plenty of fluid over the sheets (in the meat sauce), to soak the sheets during baking. If not add a little more water.
Use the cheese sauce as the topmost layer, spreading it over the top to lock the liquid into the lasagne underneath.
Consider sprinkling parmesan, nutmeg, basil leaves and sliced tomatoes over the top.
Bake the lasagna for about 35minutes, because it is vegetarian all the components are edible raw... but you do want the lasagna sheets to cook! Prick through the top with a fork to check if the lasagne sheets are cooked.
Mmmmm.... I'm getting soooo hungry thinking about this!
Buon appetito
Thambili
The same pretend meat sauce can be used as the bolognaise sauce for spaghetti too!
Also try an easy and delicious variation - place a layer of ricotta cheese and spinach in between the meat sauce layers. It can be plain ricotta and spinach with just a sprinkle of salt and pepper. You can even use frozen spinach!!... it tastes delicious!!
This version of the lasagne recipe includes extra grated vegetables in the "meat" sauce, a layer of ricotta cheese, a layer of spinach and some grated parmesan on top.Cheese and mushroom pasta
Fennel and Mandarin Salad
- find the fennel salad recipe on the salads page (click above for the link)
Cheesy mushroom pasta
- this is not a healthy dish... as you will see by the end of the recipe... we'll call it an "occasional" dish.
200g of pasta (I used spaghetti above)
1 tablespoon of butter (consider replacing with olive oil)
400g of mushrooms - washed and sliced
2 spring onions- all sliced
100g of parmesan -grated
100g of mozarella -grated/shredded
200ml of pouring cream
handful of parsley, chopped.
salt and pepper to taste.
Cook the pasta until al dente in a pot of boiling water with a teaspoon of salt. Drain and set aside.
In a large non-stick wok on medium heat melt the butter and saute the mushrooms and spring onions until the mushrooms reduce in volume. Add the cream and cheeses and allow to simmer until the sauce starts to thicken.
Season with salt and pepper, stir in the chopped parsley, followed by the cooked pasta. Continue to toss the pasta in the wok until the pasta is well coated in the sauce.
Serve with a salad, to add a bit of healthiness to this dish! I decrease the amount of cream in this dish with every trial... I wonder if low fat milk may even work.
