Serves 4-8
Prep time: 20-30 mins | Cooking time: 1 hour
A delicious vegetarian lasagne made with Beyond(TM) mince that packs the flavour of a traditional Italian lasagne al forno, without breaking the laws of Kashrut.
Perfect for the nine days, Shavuot or just a hearty weekday meal that can feed a whole family, this dish is great for batch cooking and can be frozen. We recommend serving this with a leafy green salad, some peppery rocket and tomatoes or steamed broccoli to cut through the richness of the creamy bechamel. If you want to lean more heavily into the Mediterranean vibes, try our summery Caprese Salad With Black Olive Topping or this fruity and vibrant Fig Salad, adapted from Ottolenghi’s Plenty More.
This recipe was featured as part of our recent collaboration with Valour Lifestyle (@valour_lifestyle), a fashion and lifestyle magazine aimed at Orthodox Jewish women and available worldwide. If you haven’t checked it out yet, we think you should!
Ingredients
For the Mince Ragù:
- 2 tbsp Olive Oil
- 2 Carrots, finely diced
- 1 Brown Onion, finely diced and salted
- 3 cloves Garlic
- 1/2 Red or Orange Bell Pepper, finely diced
- 2x 300g packs (600g) of Beyond (TM) Vegan Mince
- 2x 400g cans (800g) Chopped Tomatoes
- Leaves from a few sprigs of fresh Thyme (approx 1/2 tsp)
- 1 tsp Italian Seasoning
- 2 tbsp Soy Sauce
- 1/2 tsp ground Black Pepper
- 1/2 tsp Salt
For the Bécahamel Sauce:
- 60g Butter
- 60g Flour
- 1 pint / 600ml of Milk
- 1 tbsp Dijon Mustard
- 150g grated Cheddar Cheese
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Finishing:
- 6-12 Lasagne Sheets (adjust according to pan size)
- 150g grated Cheese (we mix Cheddar & Parmesan)
Method
- Start with the ragù. Add oil to a large, wide saucepan over a medium heat and allow to heat up for a minute.
- Add onions, sprinkle with salt, cover and sweat down for 5 mins, stirring occasionally.
- Add garlic, peppers and carrots and continue to sweat for a further 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Turn up heat, add the vegan mince and thyme to the pan, and cook for 5-7 mins, uncovered, stirring occasionally.
- Reduce heat and add in chopped tomatoes, black pepper and soy sauce, simmering for 7-10 mins and stirring occasionally, until the sauce darkens and the mince becomes springy.
- Remove the sauce from the heat and set aside.
- Bring a large pan of salted water to a rolling boil. One by one, carefully drop the dry lasagne sheets into the water, carefully ensuring that they don’t stick together. Cook for 3-5 minutes or until pliable. The sheets do not need to be fully cooked through, as they will cook further in the oven, but they should be reasonably soft. Drain and rinse place into COLD water
- Meanwhile, make your béchamel sauce. Form a roux by melting the butter in a pan and slowly adding the flour and stirring. It will quickly create an almost paste-like consistency, and the flour will begin to cook. This prevents your sauce from going lumpy and from tasting of flour.
- Slowly add the milk while stirring continuously (ideally with a balloon whisk), to get any lumps out of the sauce, it should thicken as it comes together.
- Add the mustard, salt and pepper and continue stirring.
- After a few minutes, once thickened, add 150g of grated cheese and continue stirring.
- Now it’s time to layer up your lasagne. In a large baking dish layer mince, pasta, bechamel, then repeat again mince, pasta, bechamel etc until you have created the desired number of layers and/or used up your mixture (2-3 is enough but feel free to add more). This recipe is also great for batch cooking, so you may wish to split the mixture over two or more smaller dishes.
- Top with final 150g of grated cheese and bake on 220°C / 200°C fan (Gas Mark 7 / 425°F) for 20 mins or until the cheese has melted and turned golden brown.
- Allow to stand for a few minutes before serving, as the lasagna will be bubbling and piping hot! Resting will allow the cheese to settle and avoid it sliding off.
- Pair with steamed green vegetables or a rocket and tomato salad dressed with good quality EVOO and balsamic vinegar.
(Image Credit: Chaya Masteran Photography)
