I love veggie lasagne but I am a bit lazy about it. Often the thought of making all the components puts me off. But this labour-light version (which includes a bit of cheating) has made it on to the regular weeknight rotation. The inspiration came from this Veggie Lasagne on the Hello Fresh website which is a good source of veggie recipes and inspiration.
As usual I’ve simplified the recipe a bit. Also, the first time I was making it things cropped up during the day which left me with very little time so I bought a tub of fresh cheese sauce from the supermarket. I would usually make my own but I really liked the flavour so now I ‘cheat’ every time.
I use tinned lentils here because it’s quick and easy but if you prefer to cook your own dried lentils I think the equivalent is about 150g dried lentils.
I like that the vegetable sauce gets all its flavour from the vegetables but, if you want to add more flavours, I would suggest any or all of a sprinkle of dried chilli flakes, 1-2 cloves of finely sliced garlic and/or 1-2 teaspoons of dried oregano.
The lentil and vegetable sauce would also make a good ‘bolognese sauce’ to serve with spaghetti or other pasta.
You can server this on its own or with a green salad and/or garlic bread
Green Lentil and Mushroom Lasagne
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion
- 1 medium carrot about 100g
- 150 g chestnut mushrooms
- 400 g can of tomatoes
- 400 g can of green or brown lentils
- 350 g fresh cheese sauce (from the chiller section in the supermarket)
- 125 g (approx) Fresh lasagne (how much you need depends on the shape of your dish – I use 4 sheets for mine – 3 layers plus a sheet chopped up to fill the gaps)
- 40 g vegetarian Italian hard cheese, grated
- Fresh basil and/or cherry tomatoes to garnish (optional)
Instructions
Lentil and vegetable sauce (you can do this stage in advance if you want)
- Halve and finely slice the onion. Peel the carrot, slice quite thinly and then halve the slices. Chop the mushrooms into chunks.
- Heat the olive oil over a medium heat.
- Add the onion, carrot and mushrooms and cook gently stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes.
- Add the tinned tomatoes, stir and bring to the boil.
- Drain the lentils and mix into the sauce.
- Season with black pepper and take off the heat.
Putting the lasagne together
- I use a 20cm x 22cm lasagne dish and it just fits!
- Put half of the lentil and vegetable sauce in the bottom of the dish.
- Cover with a sheet of pasta. You can cut up the sheets and piece them together to fit.
- Spread over half the cheese sauce.
- Cover with another layer of pasta.
- Add the rest of the lentil and vegetable sauce.
- Cover with a final layer of pasta.
- Spread over the rest of the cheese sauce.
- If I have any cherry tomatoes or basil in, I use them to decorate the top but it isn't at all essential.
- Sprinkle the grated cheese over the top.
Cooking the lasagne
- Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4.
- If your dish is quite full, put it on a baking tray because it tends to bubble over!
- Bake for 25 – 30 minutes. The lasagne should be bubbling and the cheese browned on top.