Tuesday, December 30, 2008

vegan lasagna

our traditional christmas dinner is lasagna, and for years my mother and i have stood side-by-side in the kitchen on christmas morning assembling our italian dishes. this was the first time i attempted a vegan one, which brought on quite a few changes - from the mozzarella to the ricotta to the parmesan. below is my recipe. also, i tend to like my lasagna really saucy, so just make modifications to the amounts as you prefer.

  • 12 lasagna noodles, cooked
  • 6 cups mom's mushroom pasta sauce**
  • 3 cups spinach
  • 1 large head of broccoli florets, steamed
  • 16 oz. vegan mozzarella, shredded
  • 6-8 tablespoons vegan parmesan
  • 1 batch vegan ricotta (see recipe below)
**if you don't have a favourite sauce, add mushrooms to this recipe

for the ricotta:
  • 12 oz. silken tofu
  • 6 oz. tofutti sour cream
  • 2 teaspoons tahini
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
  • 5 fresh basil leaves, minced
  • 5-8 baby spinach leaves, minced
  • 2 tablespoons oregano
  • 2 tablespoons parsley
  • salt & pepper to taste
to make the ricotta, blend tofu, sour cream, tahini, lemon juice and olive oil in a food processor. after mixture is creamy (add more oil or lemon juice if necessary), mix the rest of ingredients in by hand. chill until ready to use.

to assemble lasagna:
in a 8x11 glass or ceramic casserole dish, spread about 2 tablespoons of the sauce in the bottom of the dish to prevent noodles from sticking. place 3 noodles across the bottom, then use a spoon to spread about 1/3 of the ricotta evenly. now layer about 1/4 of the sauce in the dish, followed by 1/3 of the spinach and the broccoli. sprinkle a mozzarella layer and a parmesan layer, and then place another set of noodles in the dish. repeat the process, building up the lasagna until you have used up all ingredients. make sure to save enough sauce and mozzarella for the final top of the dish.


a few notes: make sure you buy vegan lasagna noodles (no egg). also, for the mozzarella, i used veganrella this time as i often have a hard time getting fyh vegan gourmet cheeses to melt. veganrella's cheddar cheese is really good, but the mozzarella was just average. i think next time i will try using tofutti mozzarella slices... just a thought.

bake lasagna at 375
°f for about 45 minutes. the top cheese layer should be browning and the sauce should be bubbly. makes 6 large pieces of lasagna.

20 comments:

jessy said...

we have trouble getting FYH to melt, too - we've had some success with teese though. i hear the toffuti slices are really tasty as well!

i'm with you, miss v - i love my lasagna saucy. mmmmmmmm! and thanks for the recipe for the tofu ricotta. we have yet to try something like this and i don't know what i've been waiting for! totally have to give this a whirl. thanks!

allularpunk said...

your lasagna looks awesome! i love that you put broccoli in it...i would never have thought of that, but it sounds wonderful. as for fyh mozz, i cover the dish with foil, then bake the hell out of it. apparently, it melts with steam. although, tofutti mozz would be good too, though i prefer it on pizza as it tastes like school pizza cheese from my childhood.

Amy said...

Looks great! I love lasagna!

Anonymous said...

yummy! That looks so tasty!!!

Anonymous said...

I've really been craving lasagna lately. We're still on vacation, but I can't wait to get home and make me some!

Rico said...

I just love the idea the look the taste (in my head)....and is vegan what else could you ask for...I am a meat eater but I just love vegan and vegetarian food....is so much more healthy....saw you on Foodbuzz....Happy New Year

Unknown said...

I would have to say that I am just imagining how this tastes. WOW!!! I can not wait to try this! You are making my new experience to the Vegan lifestyle so incredible! I will let you know how this turns out! Thanks!

Jen said...

that looks really good! i just made a lasagna not too long ago and used butternut squash in place of the traditional ricotta layer. i've added you onto my roll. i'm new to foodbuzz as well and am pretty overwhelmed by it all.

Usha said...

Looks wonderful, lasagna is one of my favorites...wish you a very happy new year, have a wonderful 2009 :-)

Anonymous said...

Looks Yummy!!

Chef E said...

Now I have been hungry for lasagna lately, and yours looks good, but I would have to have my broccoli chopped smaller...is it al dente?

I can be picky when it comes to broccoli, and I cannot wait to see what you did...you are torturing me :)

Bianca said...

Oh, I soooo miss Tofutti slices! You just reminded me! We can't get them here anymore for some reason. Makes me sad.

On the meltiness of FYH, I always find that it melts best in the oven when covered with foil. I usually throw some on my dish in the last 15 minutes or so of cooking.

The lasagna looks delicious. What a great holiday tradition!

And I just sent you an invite to be a tester.

Jenn Shagrin said...

heck yes :) i always think my recipe seem way too complicated. i think you could definitely bust out.

Anonymous said...

hat a great choice for a Christmas dinner. Happy New Year!

Sal - AlienOnToast said...

that looks awesome, i love saucy lasagna too.

Lauren said...

Looks Beautiful! My family usually has lasagna too! But now I eat at my in laws and they have Eggplant Parm. I need to come up with a good vegan eggplant parm recipe! :) My hubby would love this recipe. I am going to print it out. Thanks! Happy New Year!!

Joanna said...

i haven't heard of people eating lasagna for the holidays, but you are one lucky lady!! we rarely have lasagna in my house and it's quite sad. yours looks delicious and great job converting it to vegan!!

test it comm said...

That looks good. I like the broccoli in it.

Mrs. Mandy said...

You make your own vegan ricotta. God love you! You asked if I make my own tofu cheese. No, ma'am. Do you? If so, how? xoxo

AM said...

We discovered that if we put grated vegan mozzarella on (I *think* it's "Vegan Gourmet" brand) when the dish was nearly done baking, the mozzarella really melted well.

I'm not sure why this would be. Maybe the heat of the dish melted the cheese before it could dry out and/or brown somehow? We've used the same "cheese" for years on pizza, with it always browning /drying/cooking before it melted; now I'm going to try adding it to the pizza near the end of the baking cycle, too.

Also: I think that about 2 teaspoons of salt is a good amount for the vegan ricotta. I really wasn't sure what my "to taste" would be (1/2 tsp? 2 Tbsp?), so maybe this will be a good starting point for someone else.