Meat-free Lasagna Bolognese

Here is my childhood favorite gone meat free.

You can decide if you wanna make it vegan and avoid using cheese or substituting the cheese for vegan versions. Either way, it's absolutely scrumptious.

I am a huge fan of the #meatfreemonday movement, making more people venture into meals without meat - because, food can be delicious and satisfying even though theres is no meat involved - I promise.

Some of you might know the sauce, from my previous post on the meat free bolognese, So if you are lucky enough to have made a huge batch of that and it's waiting for you in the freezer - just heat up that sauce and skip to step 9.

Meat-free Lasagna Bolognese

Yield: 6 servings

Prep time: 20 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes.

Plant based bolognese

Ingredients:

• 3 carrots

• 3 celery stalks

• 2 onions

• 2 cloves of garlic

• 250 g red lentils (1 cup)

• 1 tbsp dried oregano

• 1 tbsp dried basil

• 1 tsp dried thyme

• 4 bay leaves

• 140 g tomato concentrate

• 2 cans peeled tomatoes

• 150 ml bouillon (you can use water and 1/2 a bouillon cube)

• salt and pepper

• olive oil

• balsamic vinegar to taste

Optional ingredients

• 250 ml redwine (1 cup)

• 2 star anise

• 2 twigs rosemary

White sauce (shame on me)

• 1 l. milk ( I use almond milk - you can use dairy)

• 4 tbsp. corn flour

• 50 ml cold water

• salt and pepper

• 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg

• 150 g grated parmesan

Topping/filling

• 500 g lasagne sheets ( I use gluten free ones )

• Grated mozzarella

Step 1.

Peel the onions, garlic, carrots and rinse the sellery stalks.

If you are using fresh rosemary give that a rinse.

Step 2.

Now theres two ways to go about the preparation of the veggies.

No. 1: The "I-went-to-chef-school-or-I-have-watched-200-episodes-of-masterchef-and-I-want-to-show-of-my-skills" Method.

Cut the onion, celery stalks, garlic and carrots into fine brunoise. (Chef Bruno here can show you here)

OR

No. 2: The "lets-get-this-dinner-over-and-done-with" method

Cut it all into chunks and chuck it in the food processor and pulse until minced.

Personally I go for the no. 2 solution.

Step 3.

Heat up a large pot with 3-4 tbsp olive oil to medium heat.

Sauté the veggies with the dried herbs for a good 6-7 minutes, until they are tender, season with salt and black pepper.

Step 4.

Add the lentils and combine well.

Step 5. (SKIP THIS STEP if you are not using wine)

Pour the wine in, and let it cook away, keep stirring until there is no more liquid left. (Sort of like with a risotto)

Step 6.

Add the tomato concentrate and cook for 2-3 minutes

Step 7.

Add the canned tomatoes and bouillon. IF you are using canned tomato passata, then you should not use bouillon, the sauce will get waaaaaaay to liquid, then just add adjust the seasoning with the bouillon cube or salt.

Step 8.

Bring the sauce to a boil, season with balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper and let it simmer at low heat for 10-15 minutes.

Step 9.

Now make the white sauce:

Bring the milk to a boil.

Step 10.

Combine cornflour and water into a paste and whisk it into the milk. Bring

the milk to a boil again at low heat, turn down the heat and simmer for 5

minutes whilst whisking.

Season the sauce with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Strain the sauce and add 100 g parmesan.

Step 11.

Assemble the lasagne in an ovenproof dish in the following order:

first white sauce, then a lasagne sheet and then meat sauce. Repeat

until you run out of the meat sauce and sheets. Top with a layer of

white sauce sprinkled with the rest of the parmesan.

Step 12.

Bake the lasagne until the lasagne sheets are soft throughout – test with a sharp knife or a cake tester to see if it slides through.

Cooking time: about 50-60 minutes.

TIP: you can add shredded mozzarella to the layers and the top if you wish to do so - it's delicious.

And I tell you the kids will love it too.

TIP: Make heaps and put it in the freezer for a rainy day.

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Please share your creations with me, tag @dailystews and use the hashtag #eatracewin - so I can repost them

Thank you for reading and cooking.

Take care, lot's of love

- Hannah

Also Check out my classic lasagna recipe