I love lasagne. It is one of my favourite comfort dishes - but there's a catch: I don't like very creamy or cheesy lasagne. Bechemel sauce is a no-no, I much prefer tomato sauce based lasagnes. I think it's because I have a lactose intolerance and have avoided cream sauces since childhood because they made me feel quite sick, and it wasn't until I was in my teens that I tried a lasagne I liked. As with most Italian pasta dishes, there is room for variations on the theme through different regional influences. The tastiest meat lasagne I have baked to date used gravy beef cooked in a pressure cooker with fresh tomatoes, which I based on the traditional ragu-style of rustic tough cuts slow cooked to pull-apart tenderness.
While I am a part-time meat eater, I am very aware of the impacts meat consumption has on the environment at large and my heath. I like to take dishes and convert them into vegetarian-friendly meals which not only gives me a higher nutritional intake, but it also helps the hip pocket.
In this post you'll see a vegetarian lasagne that uses less pasta by substituting sliced pumpkin, making the glycemic index of this dish a very low one. The carbs come from the pasta and also from the red lentils added to the tomato sauce. The vegetable count is six per serve (onion, carrot, celery, pumpkin, silverbeet, tomato) and protein is provided by the lentils, the ricotta, and the cheese topping. All in all it is a really balanced meal that will satisfy even the most dedicated meat eaters. Did I mention it's also incredibly delicious?
Below the pics you'll find the recipe and directions on how to freeze this dish, along with a costing of the whole thing and individual portions. Keep some handy in the freezer for those nights you get home late, or keep some in reserve for family or friends that need a gift of food when they're sick. I promise, you won't even be able to tell it's been frozen. Best of all? each serve costs $1.25.
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| Sliced pumpkin, washed silverbeet and ricotta cheese |
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| Tomato and red lentil sauce |
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| Sliced pumpkin layer |
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| Silverbeet and ricotta layer |
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| Topped with sliced pumpkin |
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| Top layer is tomato sauce and mozzerella and pecorino cheese |
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| Vegetarian Lasagne |
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| Ready for the freezer |
Recipe
Makes 12 serves
Cooking time 1.5 hours
Ingredients
olive oil
1 brown onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 sticks of celery, chopped
3 cans of whole peeled tomatoes
1 cup of red lentils
1 half of a Jap pumpkin, peeled, seeded and sliced into thin pieces
1 large bunch of silverbeet, washed and stalks removed
600 grams of dry ricotta cheese (from the deli)
1 packet of large lasagne sheets (250 grams)
1 cup of mozzerella cheese, grated
1/4 cup of pecorino cheese, grated
Method
In a large saucepan heat olive oil and fry off brown onion for 2 mins. Add the celery and carrot and cook for a further 4 mins, until vegetables are softened. Add the canned tomatoes and 4 or 5 canfulls of water. Add to this the red lentils and bring to the boil for 20 mins, until lentils are cooked.
Preheat the oven to 200C.
In a large backing pan with deep sides spoon in the tomato sauce so it covers the bottom of the pan in a layer. Add a layer of dried lasagne sheets, topped with another layer of tomato sauce. Ontop of this lay the sliced pumpkin so it covers the whole area. Top the pumpkin with the silverbeet, making a thick layer. Top this with large chunks of the ricotta cheese and then top with more pumpkin. Add a layer of tomato sauce, followed by lasagne sheets, and top everything with a layer of tomato sauce. Sprinkle with cheese, cover with aluminium foil and bake in hot oven for 35 mins. Remove foil and bake for a further 10 mins.
Lasagne will have dropped in height because as the silverbeet cooks it looses its structure and collapses.
Breakdown of layers (bottom to top)
tomato sauce
dried lasagne
tomato sauce
pumpkin
silverbeet
ricotta
pumpkin
tomato sauce
dried lasagne sheets
tomato sauce
mozzerella and pecorino
To Freeze
After lasagne is cooked, let it cool at room temperature for an hour and then place in the refrigerator for 12 hours. Cooling the lasagne makes it easier to cut as it holds its shape better than if it's cut hot. Cut lasagne into 12 serves, and ready 12 large sheets of baking paper and 12 large sheets of aluminium foil. Place one serve of lasagne onto baking paper and wrap it securely, then wrap in alfoil - this double wrapping minimises freezer burn. You can opt to place each foil-wrapped serve into zip-loc bags to further reduce freezer burn. Label and date lasagne and freeze. Keeps in the freezer for up to 3 months.
You can also freeze the whole lasagne if you won't be needing the baking dish in the meantime. Simply wrap the whole dish, top and bottom with cling wrap and cover again with alfoil to minimise freezer burn.
To defrost both individual and whole lasagne, take out and leave in the fridge the night before, and re-heat by your favourite method. I prefer using the oven to re-heat, but this can dry the lasagne out a bit.
Costing
I weighed the ingredients and kept receipts of everything I used in order to make a costing of this dish . The total ingredients in cost $15.10 and each serve costs $1.25 or thereabouts. I did use up some lasagne sheets I had in the pantry and made a guess at the cost of a cup of red lentils (guess is around .20c).
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