She is beauty, she is grace. The thickest cheesiest, and most flavorful lasagna I have ever made. It would take an expert to know it's vegetarian. With the help of some meat substitutes I was able to re-create one of my all-time favorite recipes, without losing any of the deliciousness that meat traditionally provides.
The original recipe with meat: The Most Magnificent Lasagna
And it tastes even better the next day! I urge you to try this if you are a vegetarian and even if you aren't!
The instructions are here, and pictures of the process are below:
Ingredients:
Note: The sauce recipe makes 2x the amount you'll need for the lasagna. You can use/freeze the leftovers for later.
Main Sauce:
1/4 cup canola oil (or olive oil if preferred)
300 g (10.5 oz.) Vegetarian italian sausage (see the brand I used below)
340 g (12 oz.) Vegetarian minced "meat" (brand I used below) OR rehydrated TVP
1/2 cup minced carrot
1/2 cup minced celery
1/2 cup minced onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 28 oz. (796 mL) can crushed tomatoes
1 12 oz. (354 mL) can tomato paste
1 14.5 oz. (428 mL) can tomato sauce
1 cup water
1 tbsp. + 1 tsp. white sugar
1/2 Tbsp. dried basil leaves
½ tsp. fennel seeds
2 tsp. Italian seasoning (or 1 Tbsp. for even more flavor)
1/2 tsp. red chili flakes
2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
2 tbsp. fresh/dried parsley
Mushrooms:
3 cups brown mushrooms, diced
2 cloves garlic
Pinch of salt
1/2 tbsp. olive oil (optional)
Other Lasagna ingredients:
16 lasagna noodles (for 3 or 4 layers)
1 teaspoon salt for boiling pasta
22 oz. container of cottage cheese/16 oz. ricotta
1 cup spinach
12 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese
3/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
Directions:
Note: I prefer to cook my mushrooms separately and add them to the finished sauce so they don't lose their flavor. However, you can sauté yours with the onions, celery, and carrot as part of the sauce as well.
First do the prep work. Dice and slice everything. Measure your seasonings into a cup, break apart your fake italian sausage into crumbles, and open your cans of tomato products.
Heat 2 Tbsp. oil to medium-low heat in a pot. Add your onions, celery, and carrots. Saute for about 5 minutes, or until softened.
Add the meat substitutes & 2 tablespoons oil, breaking them apart if necessary, and cook 5-10 minutes. Stir constantly, these meat substitutes stick to the bottom of the pan.
Add your tomato paste, spices, and minced garlic. Mix well and cook for about 2 minutes to let the spices bloom.
Then add in the rest of your tomato products and 1 cup water.
Stir everything together and simmer 1 hour, stirring every 5-10 minutes.
While the sauce is simmering, chop 1 cup sliced spinach and mix it in with the cottage cheese. Also shred any cheese if it's not already shredded.
30 minutes before the sauce is done simmering, start boiling a pot of water and 1 tsp. salt for your noodles. Cook the noodles as directed, do not overcook them! Strain and set aside. They will stick together so you can add a touch of butter/oil to lubricate them.
About 15 minutes before the sauce is done simmering, add your mushrooms to a clean pan and begin cooking on low-medium heat. Don't add oil! Soon the mushrooms will release their water and that will cook them.
When the water finishes evaporating from the mushrooms you can add a touch of olive oil (1/2 tbsp.) if desired, salt, and your minced garlic. Cook for about 1-2 more minutes. Take off the heat.
The assembly:
When your sauce is done simmering, stir in the mushrooms. Place the cooked noodles, sauce, and cheeses around your baking dish.
Alright. It is time.
Start with a bottom (lube layer) of sauce. It doesn't have to be thick. Then add a layer of noodles, slightly overlapping each other. Then add a layer of cottage cheese. Then add a layer of mozzarella and parmesan. Then more sauce. Then more noodles etc. etc.
I like to top the final layer of noodles with a light layer of sauce and more cheese.
Note: ALWAYS make sure you bring the ingredients (sauce, cheese, noodles) to the edge of the pan and try to be as even as possible!
Baking:
While assembling the lasagna preheat your oven to 375°F or 190°C
Bake 35 minutes with lid/greased tin foil on.
Bake 10 minutes with lid off.
Bake ~5 minutes under the broiler/grill setting (500°F/260°C) so it gets crispy on top.
So in total it bakes for 50 minutes.
Note: when broiling do not take your eyes off the lasagna, as it can easily burn!
Here we have a robust array of ingredients!
These are the meat substitutes I used. If you don't like meat substitutes or can't find these, I will be coming out with a vegetable lasagna (soon I hope!)
Remember to do the prep work before making the sauce! Dice things up, crumble the meat substitute etc. I always measure out the spices into a little cup/bowl before starting. Makes the sauce prep much easier.
Add your onions, carrots, and celery to a pot with some oil and start cooking.
After sautéing about 5 minutes. Now we add the meat substitutes.
After adding the meat substitutes and before cooking.
After they're done cooking add in the tomato paste, garlic, and spice mix. Mix well and cook about 2 minutes.
After cooking down the paste and spices. Now we add the rest of the tomato products + 1 can/1 cup water!
After adding in the tomato sauce and diced tomatoes and before mixing in.
After mixing everything together. Now we let it simmer 1 hour.
Meanwhile, we can prep everything else.
Cook your noodles.
Mix the chopped spinach with cottage cheese. And shred other cheese if necessary.
Now to a special step, cooking the mushrooms separately. (You can also cook them with the sauce)
Add your mushrooms to a clean pan and start cooking on low heat.
We don't need oil because the mushrooms release a lot of moisture that cooks them!
Once the water has finished evaporating, stir in some olive oil and garlic and cook about 2 minutes.
Stir them delicious mushrooms into the sauce when it's done simmering!
Your sauce is now ready!
Time to assemble!
First a little sauce.
Then noodles.
Then cottage/ricotta cheese layer.
Then your cheeses.
And more sauce. Then a noodle layer and continue until you have a full lasagna!
This fat baby is ready to bake!
Bake this until it's golden and delicious!
And she's done!