Vegan Diaries: Lasagne

Originally published on The Vegan Project Website

I may not be a raw-vegan anymore, but it’s important to note that my life is 70% vegan. I still create innovative dishes all the time. What I noticed from my time spent during specific diets like raw and vegan was that I was anxious to create, and while not having access to particular ingredients, it made the quality level and my imagination level high.

This recipe was created a couple of days ago, and celebrates the flavours of winter comfort foods and flavours. It is most certainly rich and delicious.

Winter Squash Lasagne:

Bechamel Sauce:
1L Unsweetened Almond Milk
4 tbsp Spelt Flour
4 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 sprigs Fresh Thyme
4 cloves Garlic, minced
salt
1.5 cups seed/nut topping**
Method:
On Medium heat, cook olive oil, minced garlic and spelt flour together – this is the base for a roux. Add the almond milk and thyme sprigs, and whisk ingredients together. Cook gently over medium heat for about 25 minutes – gradually as the water in the almond milk evaporates, the roux will work to thicken the sauce. Salt should only be added towards the end of cooking, and just enough to balance the sauce. Reserve 1 cup of sauce for the squash puree.
**Only once you’re ready to build the lasagne should you add the seed/nut topping to the sauce and stir to really thicken – this gives the illusion of a super rich cheese sauce. Amazing. Feel free to blitz this mixture after removing the thyme sprigs to give a smoother consistency, I did.

Squash:
1 medium Winter Squash
1 medium Leek
2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper
1 cup Almond Bechamel Sauce**
Fresh Sage
Method: Peel and chop squash and large pieces of leek. Add both with some olive oil, salt and pepper to a roasting pan, and throw in a 400F oven for 30 minutes. After roasting, reserve the leek pieces for another use. The squash should be fork soft at this point. **Add squash to a saucepan on low heat with 1 cup of almond bechamel sauce, and puree with a hand-blitzer. Stir in chopped sage.

Vegetables:
1 LB Kale
1 LB Spinach
1 clove Garlic
Salt & Pepper to taste
1 tsp Dry red chillies
1 tsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Blanch vegetables in salted water, sautee with garlic, salt, pepper, and chillies.

Noodles:
1 box Organic Brown Rice Lasagne Noodles
Method: Follow cooking instructions.

Seed/Nut Topping:
200g Raw Pumpkin Seeds
200g Raw Sunflower Seeds
200g Raw Almonds
200g Raw Walnuts
200g Raw Cashews
Salt
Sage
Method:
Natural oils will seep out of the ingredients with the introduction of heat in the food processor. Blitz all ingredients together until the desired crumb consistency is reached.

Build:

Using a medium 1-2″ deep pan, rub with a bit of olive oil.
Start with a layer of squash, then vegetables, then noodles. Repeat.
At the top, pour the almond milk bechamel over the lasagne, make sure to cover everything in the pan!
Top the lasagne with the seed/nut topping and throw uncovered into the oven for 25 minutes on 400F or until top is browny-gold.

When you take it out, it’s nuclear hot. Rest it for 10 minutes then consume!