I love lasagne. Full of mozzarella, ricotta, parmesan and stuff with veggies and sauce, this is a hearty dish. But when I get lasagne at the restaurants, they are usually oily, overly creamy, and in many instances only available with a bolognese ragu (ie. meat sauce).
When I was a teenager, my mom would make her own version of lasagne. It was so popular that we had it every couple weeks and when my friends came over. At that time she didn’t make her own sauce, so one day, I decided to do my own marinara sauce.
And my parents loved it. To this day, it is one of my husband’s favorite dishes. While it looks complicated, here is the secret, a vegetarian lasagne is really easy! So easy you can make it for your in-laws and shock them with your culinary bad-ass’ness.
My lasagne does not call for béchamel sauce but it does call for three cheeses: parmesan (in a pinch you can use pecorino), mozzarella, and ricotta. These are all layered in between the pasta and the sauce into ooey-gooey goodness.
As for the sauce itself, the most basic version consists of: onions, garlic, tomato sauce, fresh tomatoes (when in season) plus seasoning. Seasoning is: oregano, thyme, chili flakes, salt and pepper.
With this basic sauce, you can add lots of vegetables. My favorites are mushrooms, real green or black olives (no canned please!), red peppers, summer zucchini, baby eggplants. Chopped up and sautéed, you can turn your sauce into a veggie lovers dream.
During the summer, I will add heirloom tomatoes to the top layer. Because really, who doesn’t love these babies! Finish it off with mozzarella over the entire layer and then parmesan.
Preeti’s Secret Veggie Lasagne
Half box of lasagne pasta – doesn’t matter what brand
5 cans of tomato sauce/crushed tomatoes (if adding fresh tomatoes, use 4-5 tomatoes and 4 cans of sauce)
2 onions, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced (if you love garlic, add more!)
1/2 lb mushrooms, sliced (any variety you love)
10-15 green or black olives, sliced
1 red pepper diced or 1-2 small summer zucchinis – whatever you want
Teaspoon oregano
Teaspoon thyme
Teaspoon chili flakes
Teaspoon salt
Teaspoon pepper
1-2 tablespoons oil (olive, vegetable, whatever)
1 lb mozzarella
1/2 cup parmesan (though I have been known to put more!)
1 container ricotta cheese (usually have Galbani)
1. Saute the onions for 10 mins on medium heat. You want them to turn caramelize and turn brown.
2. Add the garlic and continue sautéing for a few minutes. Throw in your seasoning.
3. Add the mushrooms. Because mushrooms are basically water, you’ll want to still up the pot quite a bit until the mushrooms shrivel up. These dudes can lose up to 50% of their size and steam will be everywhere. Takes about 10-15 minutes.
4. Throw in all the other veggies: zucchini, peppers, olives, whatever. Continue to saute. You want everything to get a little brown and lose some of the water.
5. By this point you’ve probably been sauteing for 20-25minutes. Now the easy part comes. Dump in your canned tomato sauces/crush tomatoes along with any fresh tomatoes (diced of course).
6. Turn the heat to medium-low, give a good stir, and put the cover on. Let simmer for 20-30 minutes.
7. Get your casserole ready by: finding a deep, large casserole. My favorite is from Le Creuset.
8. Slice up the mozzarella cheese and lightly salt it. With a microplane, grate about a 1/2 cup of parmesan. At this point, preheat your oven to 350F (180C).
9. Once done simmering, turn off the stove and get ready to layer! Layering is super easy. In my Le Creuset dish, I get 3-4 layers of pasta (it depends on how much sauce I have).
How to layer like a ninja, starting with the bottom layer (duh):
1. Pasta – You might have to break up the pasta to evenly cover the bottom.
2. Sauce – Dump on a good amount of sauce to cover the pasta (to be exact, the sauce is less than 1/4in thick)
3. Ricotta – Use a spoon to layer on half the ricotta from the container.
4. Pasta
5. Sauce
6. Sliced Mozzarella
7. Pasta
8. Sauce
9. Remaining Ricotta
10. Pasta – this is your final layer in a four layer pasta.
11. Leftover sauce (usually not much is left)
12. Fresh sliced tomatoes
13. Sliced Mozzarella
14. Grated Parmesan
Put it in the oven for 30-40 minutes until your home smells of deliciousness.
Take out, let cool and admire how awesome you are.
Bellissimo!
Enjoy with a glass of champagne or sparking water. Bon appetit!
