Jump to content
  • Welcome to the eG Forums, a service of the eGullet Society for Culinary Arts & Letters. The Society is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of the culinary arts. These advertising-free forums are provided free of charge through donations from Society members. Anyone may read the forums, but to post you must create a free account.

Veggie Lasagna Recipe


lesfen

Recommended Posts

Could someone volunteer a tasty recipe for a veggie lasagna?

I'm having a birthday party for my friend on Saturday and I thought lasagna would be a good choice to feed a crowd. I'm comfortable with my recipe for a Bolognese-style, but I'd like to also serve a white-sauce veggie one. I've Googled quite a few recipies but the most of the reviews included words like "bland" and "gelatinous". :huh: I think I'd like to steer clear of that so I've come to you eGulleteers!

Anyone have a good one?

Thanks!

Les

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Pamela Sheldon Johns has a wild mushroom lasagne recipe in her book Parmigiano! I haven't made it, but I had it ages ago at a class she taught, and it was great.

Essentially, you layer a bechamel sauce with sauteed wild mushrooms (she sautes them with garlic and some sliced yellow bell peppers and seasons with parsley and thyme) and the cooked lasagne noodles. Top with a lot of fresh parmesan cheese and bake.

(Sorry, I couldn't find a link to the actual recipe.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't have a recipe, but I'll make a white sauce infused with sage and layer that with a ricotta mixture and roasted butternut squash sometimes.  I may even throw in toasted pine nuts or hazelnuts and some spinach.

That sounds really good; any opportunity to combine sage and butternut squash. Another add in option (instead of the spinach) would be mushrooms sauteed over high heat with plenty of salt and pepper to brown them and remove the water. A combination of wild and button mushrooms would be very nice.

Another idea:

roasted eggplant and roasted garlic, basil and red pepper flakes

Perhaps a good way to incorporate the garlic puree would be to coat each piece of eggplant with the puree before layering the slices in the "meat layer".

"Under the dusty almond trees, ... stalls were set up which sold banana liquor, rolls, blood puddings, chopped fried meat, meat pies, sausage, yucca breads, crullers, buns, corn breads, puff pastes, longanizas, tripes, coconut nougats, rum toddies, along with all sorts of trifles, gewgaws, trinkets, and knickknacks, and cockfights and lottery tickets."

-- Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1962 "Big Mama's Funeral"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I often do a roasted veggie lasagna but since you're already serving a more traditional meaty lasagna I'd lean toward the butternut with sage bechamel. It would make both the carnivores and the veggies happy and create a nice variety.

Don't forget some nutmeg.

oooh and a nice salad with some spiced pecans....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The cost is rather prohibitive unless you find a special sale on artichokes, but one of the best I have ever made is Marcella Hazan's artichoke lasagna.

It was wonderful with plain homemade egg pasta--although spinach noodles would be pretty--allowing the taste of the artichoke hearts to stand out. The recipe calls for 4-5 artichokes and asks you to cut off and discard all their leaves, though I am sure you could steam them separately to justify expense.

The recipe begins on page 184 of More Classic Italian Cooking (1978). I can't give you the page for the revised, one-volume edition of the original publication.

"Viciousness in the kitchen.

The potatoes hiss." --Sylvia Plath

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I make one with layers of butternut squash (butternut pumpkin to us aussies) mashed and some cashew nuts crushed and mixed in (though will try sage next time). The second layer is fresh ricotta with slow roasted tomatoes (cut into quarters and drizzled with olive oil and really tiny diced garlic and cooked really slowly in the oven 150 degrees until they collapse on themselves. I store these in jars with olive oil - unbelievable) that are cut finely and scattered over the top. The third layer is a really light bechemel with mushrooms. These three layers are then repeated. I then (hand head in shame :shock: ) use my cheats top layer of a large tub of sour cream mixed with grated cheese. This is splattered on top the last pasta layer Jackson Pollock style (thing kindergarten splatter paintint) with a can of "gourmet" tomato soup (we have a great one here with "bush tucker" flavours).

Cook at 180 until bubbly.

Hope this helps :biggrin:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Wow... these all sound fantastic! I don't have any vegetarians that I'm trying to appease so I really just wanted to mix things up a bit. The Pamela Sheldon Johns recipe sounds like a winner. I'll let you know how it comes out!

I'm also gonna tuck that butternut squash and sage idea away for a cold Sunday at home with my husband. That sounds so good!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Adzuki beans work well, and are reminiscent of ground meats without being fakes. And make a complete protein together with the wheat of the pasta.

Without adequate protein, a meal is pretty much pointless as nutrition. So unless one is serving meat along with the vegetarian pasta or a bean dish with it, best to arrange a complete protein within the dish.

"I've caught you Richardson, stuffing spit-backs in your vile maw. 'Let tomorrow's omelets go empty,' is that your fucking attitude?" -E. B. Farnum

"Behold, I teach you the ubermunch. The ubermunch is the meaning of the earth. Let your will say: the ubermunch shall be the meaning of the earth!" -Fritzy N.

"It's okay to like celery more than yogurt, but it's not okay to think that batter is yogurt."

Serving fine and fresh gratuitous comments since Oct 5 2001, 09:53 PM

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you all so much for your suggestions. At the urging of my husband, I actually ended up going with a chicken and spinach lasagna recipe that I had tucked away a few years ago. It was a big hit with my guests, but I think it needs some tweaking.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...