Sam's Vegan Lasagne Recipe
There is something about Italy. Most of us have experienced Italy through films or books; getting distracted by this beautiful and vibrant country which is so frequently used as a setting for stories of love, violence and mystery.
I have been lucky enough to travel around the country many times and have had the even greater pleasure of working alongside some exceptional Italian chefs. For a nation that shows such reverence for food, it is certainly not a leap to argue that these chefs, as well as many of the Italian greats, have achieved cultural sainthood among not only their countrymen but also foodies the world over.
Thoughts of both the beauty of Italian cuisine and the sage advice of many of my tutors, was what I found running through my head when my sister said to me one day, early on in her career as an avid vegan: “Sam, can you make a vegan lasagne?”
Of course, my answer was immediately “yes, absolutely”. I had tasted many attempts at vegan lasagnes before (whether I thought they were any good is a different matter) and I was willing to create something that at least resembled the classic Italian dish. Then she hit me with the following caveat: “with a proper white sauce like actual lasagne”. This is where the problem started to take its shape. I knew a vegan white sauce was achievable using oat milk but how to make it taste of anything except oats was the problem I realised quite quickly I needed to solve.
The following recipe is the result of six failed attempts at creating the balance of a classic lasagne, whilst keeping it exciting and tasty enough to satisfy vegans and non-vegans alike.
The recipe is a great crowd pleaser at a dinner party and yet can be portioned and frozen down if you are cooking for just yourself. The quantities can also be scaled up or down quite naturally. If you are a fan of different kinds of vegetables, then don’t be scared to change it up. Cooking Italian food especially is all about feel and having fun with it.
As with this one, most of my vegan recipes have in them certain techniques and ingredients consistent amongst most recipes. In an attempt to make things clearer I am going to outline them in this short glossary.
To taste - This is a crucial one. The importance of continuously tasting every element of your dish as you cook cannot be overstated. When the recipes in this collection say add x ingredient to taste it is crucial you actually do taste repeatedly. I keep a tasting spoon next to my stove during cooking to remind me to do it
Pinch - In the culinary world, we have what we call a chef’s pinch. This is quite a hefty three-finger pinch of whatever dry ingredient the recipe calls for. When I say pinch in this recipe, I mean a chef’s pinch.
Nutritional yeast - If you are a vegan and have not come across this stuff yet I have no idea how you’ve survived this long. Nutritional yeast is a deactivated version of the yeast you come across when making beer or bread. Although it is hailed as what makes vegan food ‘cheesy’, Nutritional yeast alone is not enough to create that sought-after flavour. When not combined with other ingredients it creates more of a savoury, nutty taste. The trick comes when combining this magical ingredient with others and allowing the subsequent reaction to reach your pallet in the correct way. What nutritional yeast is particularly good at is creating similar retro nasal olfactory effects to cheese - however, our brain needs help understanding flavour. If something tastes cheesy but doesn’t smell or feel cheesy, you are going to have a difficult time unlocking the experience of cheese.
Barista-Quality Oat Milk - I often think I should be paid to promote this stuff. When cooking with vegan/alternative milks, there are two major problems you are likely to encounter: Thinness, inability to foam, and reductions often resulting in a cardboard-y taste . Barista-quality oat milk is the hero that banishes all of these problems. Whenever a recipe of mine calls for an alternative milk, you should be using only Barista-quality oat milk - without this, you will not get the same quality of results nor an effective replication of real milk experience.
Technique
Step 1: Preheat your oven to gas mark 6/180℃.
Step 2: If you’re the kind of person who finds cooking stressful, or you are just quite slow at knifework, I find that the best thing is to prep all your veg first.
- Peel your sweet potatoes and cut into large bite sized chunks.
- Slice your courgette into thick coins.
- Remove the sticker and slice your aubergine into bite sized chunks, roughly 2/3rds the size of your sweet potato.
- Slice your peppers into medium slices.
- Peel and fine dice your red onion.
- peel the entire head of garlic and slice each clove very finely.
- finely slice all of your mushrooms.
Step 3: Take a large silver-based pan and place over a medium low heat with a hefty glug of olive oil.
Step 4: Once the pan is warm begin to sauté your onions.
Step 5: As the onions begin to turn translucent, add a dash of red wine and wait for it to cook off for 3 or 4 minutes. Then add your garlic, a tablespoon of oregano, a tablespoon of thyme and a tablespoon of smoked paprika. Keep the heat medium low so as to not burn anything in the pan.
Step 6: Once the garlic has softened, add your 3 tins of tomatoes.
Step 7: Stir well until everything is combined and then turn up the heat until the sauce begins to simmer.
Step 8: Leave the sauce to simmer very gently for about 30-40 mins.
Step 9: Whilst the sauce is simmering, place your courgettes, peppers, sweet potato and aubergine into a roasting tray and coat with a glug of olive oil.
Step 10: Lightly salt the veg and then place the tray in the oven. Set a timer for 25 minutes.
Step 11: Now to make the white sauce. Take your 150g of vegan butter and gently melt in a silver based pan.
Step 12: Once the butter is slightly bubbling, add your 150g of flour and whisk over a medium heat for 1-3 minutes until the roux has completely cooked out. (Be cautious here, it is better to take longer with it and not burn it than use too high of a heat and burn the roux)
Step 13: Once your roux is cooked out, slowly add the oat milk. Take your time: add about half a cupful at a time, waiting for it to thicken before adding the next amount. Keep the heat medium low and whisk constantly.
Step 13: Once the white sauce is at your desired consistency remove from the heat. (you’ll probably not use the entire bottle of oat milk)
Step 14: Add your nutritional yeast to taste, around half a pot is usually good, and stir into the sauce before it cools too much. Add about a level teaspoon of smoked paprika and a pinch or two of cayenne pepper and nutmeg, to taste. (Keep tasting till you get the quantities right)
Step 15: Time to go back to your tomato sauce. Once It has simmered for around 30 minutes you need to start refining it. At first, it will probably taste quite bland and watery - this is because tinned tomatoes lose a huge amount of flavour when stored in this way.
Step 16: Add a tube and a half of tomato puree and your entire tube of garlic paste. Stir, then add another two tablespoons of oregano and a tablespoon of thyme.
Ingredients
Cupboard
-Lasagne sheets-x1 Box
-Tinned peeled-plum tomatoes-x3 Tins
-Nutritional yeast-about half a pot
-Tomato Puree-x2 Tubes
-Garlic puree-x1 Tube
-Smoked paprika
-Cayenne pepper
-dried ground Nutmeg
-Dried Thyme
-Dried Oregano
-balsamic vinegar
-Olive Oil
-Salt
-Black Pepper
-Pine nuts-x2 heaped tablespoons
-vegan pesto-half a jar
-Plain Flour-x150g
-Red Wine- A dash
Fresh
-Courgette-x2
-Aubergine-x1
Sweet potato-x2 large
-mixed colour peppers-x3large
-Spinach-x500g
-Mixed mushrooms-x500G
-Fresh basil-x1 bunch
Red onion-x1 large
Garlic-x1 head
Fridge
-Barista Quality Oat Milk-1x 1 litre bottle
-Vegan butter-x150g
Step 17: Add a tablespoon of sugar to offset the tomato puree’s bitterness, stir and then taste. At this point it's all about refining. Keep adding your spices (smoked paprika, cayenne) and your herbs (Thyme, basil, oregano) as well as balsamic vinegar and red wine, until the flavour is balanced (taste constantly).
Step 18: Finally finish refining your sauce by adding salt and pepper. Always season with salt after everything else as the volume and reduction of the sauce changes as you are refining it and you may end up over salting it.
Step 19: Now, once your veg in the oven is completely cooked, you have all your components ready. Take a large lasagne dish and prepare to start layering.
Step 20: Take a large spoonful of both your tomato sauce and your white sauce and spread it over the base of the dish.
Step 21: Scatter some roasted veg, some raw thin sliced mushrooms, some
spinach and your fresh basil evenly over the base.
Step 22: Layer some lasagne sheets over the top and then repeat steps 20 and 21 on this layer. Remember to save some white sauce to cover the top layer of the lasagne.
Step 23: Keep layering until you run out of ingredients or fill your lasagne dish. Cover the top layer of lasagne sheets with just a small amount of tomato sauce and a lot of white sauce.
Step 24: Bake in the oven at gas 6/180c for around 25-30 minutes.
Step 25: Allow to cool slightly before cutting into portions, enjoy with a light salad and some crusty bread.
-Sam chapman
About the author
Sam is the Co founder and CEO of EATE. He has a long history cooking at all levels of the culinary arts. His real goal however seems to be to avoid having to write any of his knowledge down. Sometimes like today we manage to convince him and get to read about some true food gems.
