Yucky Photo, Yummy Lasagne

Still without a decent camera I persist with taking food photos occasionally with mobile phone cameras. I made this lasagne for dinner on Saturday night to work on my white sauce recipe and use up some icky TVP (I'm not a fan, I prefer crumbled tofu any day) and take advantage of the nice eggplant I bought today because it looked pretty. The photo was an after-thought, hence the slice down the middle from when I checked to see if my pasta sheets were nicely done. I love the way the white sauce topping looks.

Roast Pumpkin Lasagna

Serves - 4
Time - Preparation 30 minutes / Baking 60 minutes.

Ingredients:

1 large pkt lasagna sheets

1 large bottle of plain tomato pasta sauce

1 recipe of Vegan White Sauce
(http://veganmadeeasy.blogspot.com/2010/01/vegan-white-sauce-recipe.html)

4 gloves roasted garlic

1/2 small pumpkin - diced into small cubes and roasted

1 tin of lentils - well drained, or 2 cups fresh cooked lentils.

1 cup packed fresh basil leaves, shredded.

1 350gm block of plain firm tofu

1/3 cup thinly sliced sun dried tomatoes

1/3 cup tahini

1/2 cup savory (nutritional) yeast flakes (plus extra for sprinkling on top before baking)

1 TBS lemon juice

Olive oil

Equipment:

Large mixing bowl, clean tea towel, lasagna baking dish, wooden spoon.

Directions:

1. Cube pumpkin and roast with a spray of olive oil, but only until still firm, don't over cook.

2. Roast whole garlic cloves in the oven, roasting time approximately 10 minutes, while the pumpkin is roasting, then crush with flat blade of knife.

3. Open tofu packet and wrap tofu block in clean tea towel to squeeze the water out of it, then in a large mixing bowl crumble the tofu with your hands until no chunks remain and it has the consistency of ricotta.

4. Mix tahini, yeast flakes, lemon juice and 1 TBS olive oil into tofu, then add sun dried tomatoes, basil leaves and roasted garlic and gently mix through with wooden spoon.

5. Add pumpkin cubes and lentils to tofu mixture then you are ready to build the lasagna.
6. Spray or grease lightly the lasagna dish with olive oil.

7. Build your lasagna - place 1 layer of pasta sheets on base of dish, then a scoop of the pumpkin- tofu mix, then pour over a portion of the tomato pasta sauce, ensure the pasta sheet is well covered with mixture and sauce, but only a thin layer. Repeat until you reach a final layer of pasta sheets on top.

8. Pour your white sauce evenly across the top layer of pasta, and ensure the pasta is well covered in a nice think layer of white sauce. Sprinkle some more yeast flakes on top of white sauce.

9. Bake in oven at 180 degrees for 45-50 minutes, then turn off oven and let sit for another 15 minutes before serving.

Vegan Lasagna......at last

Here is my lasagna recipe, at last. The best bit about this recipe is the awesome white sauce! It has the feel and taste of really naughty white sauce but is very low in fat for such a thing, and it can also be used on potato bake, macaroni, or cauliflower!

I will add recipes for alternative fillings (as I make them!) in future, such as bean and tofu filling and TVP and lentil filling, which are more "mince" like for traditional lasagna lovers.

Ingredients

1 family size packet lasagna pasta sheets (6 serves)
1 medium eggplant - sliced thinly, 3-5mm thin.
1 large red onion - sliced
1 red capsicum - sliced
1 zucchini (or 2 small) - sliced
300 grams plain firm tofu - crumbled well to resemble ricotta cheese
1 jar plain tomato pasta sauce (or your favourite recipe)
2 tins crushed tomatoes (or 4 cups fresh diced roma tomatoes)
1-2 teaspoons minced garlic

(White sauce ingredients)
1 cup nutritional (savoury) yeast flakes
2 cups soy or rice milk
1/4 cup Tahini
1 tablespoon (approx) cornflour

Herbs: fresh or dry basil, oregano, black cracked pepper and sea salt, to taste, be generous with the oregano.
Balsamic vinegar
Spray olive oil

Equipment

1 family size lasagna dish (or will fit into two small pyrex dishes)
1 small saucepan
1 large saucepan
trays for grilling/roasting veggies
mixing bowl

Preparation

Slice eggplant very thinly, lay on paper towel or a tea towel and lightly salt for 10 minutes (lots of water will come out of them, but so will any bitterness, if your eggplant is very fresh this isn't needed)

While eggplant is salted, crumble tofu well between your fingers in a mixing bowl until it looks like ricotta cheese.

Instructions

Heat oven to 180 degrees C.

Grill or roast lightly, eggplant, capsicum and zucchini slices, with a spray of olive oil and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar over slices. Put aside when cooked, for when ready to build lasagna.

In a large saucepan cook onion and garlic until onion softens.

Add crumbled tofu and mix well with onion.

Continue to cook tofu mixture for 5 minutes, then add pasta sauce and tinned/fresh tomatoes, and mix well, stirring through herbs, salt and pepper. Turn off heat.

Make white sauce (recipe below).

Build lasagna - starting with a layer of pasta sheets, top with a small amount of tofu and sauce mix and grilled veges, then repeat layers of pasta, tofu mix and vege mix until a final layer of pasta.

Pour white sauce mixture over lasagna and smooth across top, then sprinkle 1/4 cup savoury yeast flakes across the top to give a cheesy appearance.

Bake for 45 minutes.

White Sauce Recipe

Slowly heat 2 cups soy or rice milk until lightly steaming, do not overheat!
Stir in 3/4 cup of nutritional yeast flakes
Stir in 1/4 cup tahini, mixing well.
Slowly add cornflour and mix continually so clumps don't form.

Continue to mix until sauce thickens, about 3-4 minutes. Add more soy milk or cornflour if needed to adjust thickness.

Publication, Whoo!

Great new Australian Website from Action for Animals - TryVeg

http://www.tryveg.net/

And they have kindly published my recipes!

Recipe: Asian-style Soup with Tofu and Udon Noodles

Recipe: Pasta Bake with Cashew Cheez Sauce

Easy Yummy Pasta

Tonight I made some Pasta for my Mum and Dad, which they really liked, so I thought I'd put down what I did.

Ingredients:
1x Packet of your favorite pasta, I like Vegeroni Spirals or Al' Fungi Pasta from the Deli if I'm feeling fancy.
1x Jar of plain tomato pasta sauce
3 Cups chopped mushrooms
Olive Oil for the pan
1 tin Butter Beans
2 Cloves crushed garlic
2 large Spring Onions, chopped finely
1 large carrot, julienned
3 Tablespoons Hommus
Balsamic Vinegar (a good splosh)
1 tablespoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon fresh black pepper
Optional: 1 tablespoon of fresh minced chili

Instructions:
Chop all ingredients and have everything at hand
Boil water and heat pan (I love a big cast iron pan for this)
Cook pasta as per packet instructions
While pasta is cooking, cook garlic, spring onions, carrot and mushroons for 5 minutes, then add butter beans and pasta sauce and heat through.
Stir in about 2-3 tablespoons of Balsamic Vinegar, then stir through hommus.
Drain Pasta and return to pot.
Add veggie, bean and sauce mix from fry pan and stir through.
Stir through chili if using.

Enjoy! (with Verdelho)