“Meaty” Vegan Lasagna
A meal so good it raises my heart rate
I am the only vegan in my family so when it comes to a lot of my cooking I keep portion size in mind because I will be the one eating the leftovers. I’m not sure if you’ve ever tried to eat an entire lasagna by yourself but unless you’re Garfield the cat it’s quite a feat. But I’m a firm believer in that you should make an effort for yourself. The idea of putting in more work when you’re doing something for others is nice, but you deserve to go the extra mile for things only you will enjoy too.
My point is I love lasagna so every Christmas I make one and then I eat the whole thing before New Year’s Eve.
Call me Garfield I guess.
Sometimes portions make it into the freezer to be enjoyed at a later date. This recipe is special and very rich so I don’t make it more than once or twice a year. And now I’m sharing it with you. It makes around 8 servings but whether or not you want to share them with other people is entirely your business.
Serves: 6-8 people
Ingredients:
Sauce
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, grated
2 x 340g pkg Beyond Beef ground
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp red chilli flakes
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 x 796 ml can San Marzano tomatoes
1 x 680 ml jar passata (strained crushed tomatoes)
Mornay
2 Tbsp plant based butter
2 Tbsp flour
200g Violife Cheddar Shreds
2 cups barista oat milk*
1 box vegan oven-ready lasagna noodles (12 sheets)**
Notes:
*any brand of oat milk will do but it has to be the barista version
**ItalPasta in Canada makes a great vegan oven ready lasagna noodle
Lasagna gets a reputation for being a really labour intensive dish to make which I feel is undeserved. The majority of time spent making this recipe will be waiting for things to cook. I think where people get intimidated is with making mornay but I believe that is again just a reputation issue. One of the first things I ever learned to cook when I was about 4 years old was mornay. It’s how my mother always made macaroni and cheese. While she was grating the cheddar my job was to stir the milk to ensure it didn’t burn.
The recipe will be made in three parts.
The first is to make the “meat” sauce which will have to bubble away on the stove for at least an hour. You can absolutely make the sauce ahead of time if you want to cut down how long you need to be in the kitchen.
The second is making the mornay which will take about 20 minutes and requires you to be standing at the stove the whole time.
The third part is assembling the layers and waiting for it to cook. I specifically went with oven ready lasagna noodles for this recipe rather than the ones you have to boil first because that is such a pain in the ass. Do be careful because a lot of the oven ready noodles in the stores will have egg in them, make sure to opt for one that is vegan. ItalPasta is my preferred brand but it’s a little tricky to find.
For all of the steps I recommend setting out your mise en place first to make sure you’ve got all the measurements correct and haven’t forgotten anything.
Now that you know what to expect, here’s how you make it!
The Sauce
Put a large heavy bottomed pot on the stove over medium heat, when it warms up add 2 Tbsp olive oil and watch for it to ripple. Add in your diced onion and grated garlic and let that cook for a couple of minutes until the onions start to soften but before they brown. Add in your two packages of Beyond Beef plant-based ground and roughly chunk them apart with a wooden spoon. I prefer my sauce to be quite “meaty” so I intentionally leave larger chunks in. Try not to pulverise it, but find a balance that you like.
A note on plant-based ground “beef”: if you’re used to cooking with animal protein you’re likely used to waiting for it to brown. With plant-based “beef” you’ll notice that a lot of liquid comes out but it doesn’t exactly brown in the same way. That’s okay, there will still be lots of flavour and it will get fully cooked to a safe temperature in the sauce.
Let the “beef”, onions, and garlic cook until most of the juice comes out. Resist the urge to keep stirring it, but do check on it to make sure it doesn’t stick. This should take about 10 minutes. Add in your parsley, oregano, basil, chilli flakes, and salt stirring once more.
To the pot add in your can of San Marzano tomatoes and passata. Rinse the containers of each with a bit of water (no more than 1/4 of the size of the can/jar) and add that to the pot as well. Those San Marzanos aren’t cheap, you want to get every last drop you can. You can crush the tomatoes in your hand before adding them to the pot or you can do what I do and stab them apart with a wooden spoon. Do whichever will help get out your aggression the most.
Bring the sauce to a bubble, cover, and reduce to medium low. You want it to still be simmering so make sure to check back after the first fifteen minutes in case you have to turn down the heat or let out some steam. Let the sauce cook for an hour going back to stir every 20 minutes or so to make sure it doesn’t stick. If you do find that it has stuck a bit to the bottom you can remove it to one side of the stove and give it a scrape with your wooden spoon. Likely this isn’t burnt, it’s just fond that is forming at the bottom of the pot a.k.a. flavour.
The sauce should have reduced a bit and become rich and chunky, if you’re finding it still too watery cook it an extra half hour or so.
That’s part one done! Move the sauce to the side if you’re making this same day or refrigerate if you’ll be making it later. Just make sure if you’re storing it you get it into the fridge within 2 hours of taking it off the stove for food safety reasons. (A tip for all food, not just this specific sauce.)
The Mornay
A mornay is easy to make. You start with a roux, turn that into a béchamel, and then add cheese to make it a mornay. Traditionally in French cooking something like gruyère would be used but in North America it’s more common with cheddar. In this case I’ve found the perfect vegan version is Violife cheddar shreds.
To start get yourself a medium sized saucepan and put it over medium heat on the stove. You want something shorter than you’d use for a pot of pasta but not a frying pan. To the saucepan add 2 tbsp plant based butter, I prefer Becel. Let this begin to melt and add in 2 tbsp flour (I use whole wheat pastry flour but all purpose is fine too). With a wooden spoon stir the two together to combine. Allow to cook for a few minutes until it starts to foam and reaches a wet sand consistency.
Congrats, you’ve made a roux.
Next up add in your plant based milk a little bit at a time. You want to pour some into the roux and stir until it forms a thick paste, then add in more and do the same thing. Keep doing this over and over until you’ve run out of milk and your pot is all liquid. Here comes the real work… gently stir with your wooden spoon, and don’t stop stirring. I usually do figure eights. If you stop stirring the milk will burn so don’t walk away from it.
You’re going to keep stirring until this comes almost to a boil and starts to thicken. Then you add in the cheese a handful at a time and keep stirring. It will take a while for the vegan cheese to incorporate, you want to keep going until all the cheddar shreds have totally melted and you don’t see the streaks anymore. The next part is harder to describe, it’s something my grandmother would have said, “you know the way it is” in one of her recipes. The sauce will quite suddenly come together and get thick. You should be able to pull the spoon out and run a finger through the sauce leaving a clear line behind.
Honestly if you’ve never made it before I would recommend watching my YouTube video to see the whole process.
Once the sauce is done pull it off the heat right away. You’re now ready for step three!
The Lasagna
Preheat your oven to 375 F.
I use a 9 x 13 heavy casserole dish for this. Spoon a ladleful of the sauce into the dish and spread it all over the bottom. You’re not looking for anything thick here, it just stops the noodles from sticking to the bottom.
Next up you’re going to alternate layers three times: 4 noodles, sauce, mornay.
The mornay should be the thing you put on last because this is the “cheesy” top that is going to bubble and brown in the oven so make sure you don’t use it all on the middle two layers.
I do not cover my lasagna but I do put a cookie sheet on the lower rack in my oven to catch any sauce that might bubble out. Nine times out of ten I’m fine, but the tenth time I’m glad to have put something down.
Once the oven has preheated stick in the lasagna. It should take a full hour to cook but as ovens can vary make sure to check it around the 45 minute mark. Just a little peek in the oven make sure nothing is burning.
And that’s it! You’ve got yourself a meaty vegan lasagna to share with friends and family. Although you can also just eat it all yourself. It keeps really well in the fridge and freezer. When reheating if you use the microwave I recommend adding a splash of water to the dish and using only 50% power to make sure it doesn’t overcook.
