Veggie Lasagne
This is a great meat free lasagne. The filling comprises a variety of vegetables all roasted together in the oven to form a lovely chargrilled vegetable filling, which is enhanced by the addition of herb, pitted sliced black olives and aromatic green capers. I recommend using freshly grated parmesan and a quality buffalo mozzarella. If you wish to be more generous with these cheeses in the final assembly, please go ahead.
I also recommend to make the ingredients in stages i.e roast the veggies the day before or several hours ahead as this certainly shortens the preparation time of a dish which requires a fair amount of prep action but whatever, you decide to do I know you will love this recipe. I have been making this dish for years, and it has definitely become a family favourite.
Ingredients
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Veggies
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4 bell peppers- red, green, yellow and orange, chopped
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350g cherry tomatoes- left whole
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6 Japanese aubergines or 1 large aubergine- trimmed, chopped
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2 garlic cloves- chopped
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150g button mushrooms- washed and halved
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4 baby marrow or 1 medium marrow or large courgette- chopped
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2 large sprigs of fresh rosemary- no stem, chopped
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Large handful fresh thyme- no stem, chopped
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3-4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil- be generous
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Cheese Sauce
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20g butter
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30g plain flour
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600ml milk
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2 bayleaves
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Large pinch of nutmeg
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Seasoning of salt and pepper
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50g fresh parmesan- grated for top, be generous
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Other
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2 tbsp black olives- pitted and sliced
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2 tbsp capers- drained, left whole
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100g buffalo mozzarella- thinly chopped or sliced
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8 NO cook lasagne sheets- number depending on size of dish
Instructions
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Prepare veggies:
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01 Wash, trim and chop all the vegetables into even bite sized pieces, removing seeds from peppers. Chop the garlic and fresh herbs.
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Assemble for roasting:
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02 Place all chopped vegetables into a large roasting tin, add oil and seasonings. Toss well and place in the hot oven to roast. This can take 30 minutes plus (remember to stir every 10 minutes to evenly roast all). When all roasted remove from the oven and add black olives, capers. Check seasoning again. Set aside.
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Cheese sauce:
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03 Melt butter on a low heat in a saucepan, add flour, milk and bay leaves and nutmeg. Slowly bring to a simmer stirring all the time, and cook until it starts to thicken and coats the back of a spoon, then cook, stirring, for 1 minute more. Take off the heat, remove the bay leaves and add half of the grated parmesan cheese. Set aside.
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Assemble lasagne:
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04 Lightly oil an oven proof dish. Spoon 1/3 of the vegetables into the dish, then top with 1/4 of the mozzarella and a layer of lasagne, followed by 1/3 of the cheese sauce. Repeat twice more, ending with a layer of the cheese sauce. Scatter the remaining parmesan and mozzarella on top. (If your dish is large and shallow, just do 2 layers).
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Cook:
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05 Once assembled this lasagne can be cooked straight away, or left until later required. When you are ready to cook, pre-heat the oven to 180C, place the dish on a baking sheet to catch any juices that bubble over, and bake for 30 minutes or so until golden and bubbling.
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Serve:
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06 Absolutely delicious served hot either on its own or with a healthy mixed green salad.
Notes
This wonderful vegetable lasagne can be made with a variety of vegetables. The selection I provide are my favourite but if you wish to add more of one, or remove another please go ahead. Just make sure you have a good selection to roast. If you feel the vegetables require more oil for the roast do add, and remember these vegetables should not be blackened, just softened and toasted light brown at the edges. If you wish to remove the skins on the cherry tomatoes do go ahead but I find its a labour intensive action really not required. Finally all the stages i.e roast vegetables, cheese sauce etc can be made the day ahead, and assembled prior to baking. This vegetable lasagna can also be frozen.
