Vegan Lasagne (gluten, grain, sugar & nut-free) – traditional Beef Lasagne or Lasagna reinvented !
Afternoon all & say a big Hello Vegan Lasagne !
As you know I have been doing this OptiCook thing a while now, a few months shy of 12 months. This Vegan Lasagne recipe seriously is a bit of a watershed moment for me as I have used all that I learnt about low starch/carb veggies into this recipe.
Please do not freak out about the length of the recipe. I did that so that each component of this Vegan Lasagne has a proper recipe for it and provided the detail you need to cook it amazingly well. Nothing about this is hard but a little time consuming. Please refer to the pictures of the cooking process itself as they will be pretty handy, especially for the beginning cooks.
This was my first ever recipe, which I thought about when I first started this journey. I posted it up on a support page on Facebook really late at night and it just went nuts. So here I am re-inventing it again.
The old one, Roasted Vegetable Lasagne, is still there as it is slightly different and many people like making it still. It uses lots of different roasted vegetables to make almost a traditional vegetarian lasagne. This Vegan Lasagne uses a tomato sauce, lasagne sheets and a bechamel sauce, so is more closely aligned to the traditional meat version, but, of course, without the meat, or cheese, or wheat based pasta sheets ….
I do hope you enjoy it. Feel free to PM me via OptiCook Facebook page as you go along with any questions. I am very proud of this recipe & enjoyed every mouthful.
Joni
- 1 brown onion, diced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 sticks celery, diced (approx. 1 cup)
- 2 medium carrots, diced (approx. 1 1/2 cups)
- 200g mushrooms, finely chopped (approx. 3 cups)
- 1 tsp dried Thyme
- 1 tsp dried Oregano
- 1 shake or pinch of chilli powder
- 1 tsp Brandy essence
- 1 cup low salt tomato paste
- 400g tin diced tomatoes, low salt & no added sugar
- 3 cups of stock ( I use Massel vegan chicken stock) + 1 more if needed
- 1/2 medium cauliflower, cut into florets incl core
- 3 cups of stock (I use Massel vegan chicken stock)
- 1 small brown onion, peeled but left whole
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 cloves
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg, ground or grated if fresh
- Cracked black pepper
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 1 small zucchini, peeled & grated
- 1 small carrot, peeled & grated
- Zest of 1/2 a medium lemon
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 sachet of Miso soup (18g)
- 1/2 tsp paprika (smoked or sweet)
- 1 tsp stock powder (I used Massel vegan chicken stock)
- Make up all the individual components, then assemble. You can do steps 1-5 at the same time.
- Add a spray of olive oil to a fry pan or large saucpan. Add the onion & garlic and cook for approx. 5 mins until nicely browned. Add brandy essence (it will sizzle), celery, carrots, mushrooms, thyme, oregano & chilli powder, stir and cook for another 2 mins.
- Next add the tinned tomatoes, tomato paste & 2 cups stock. Simmer for about 20-30 mins until cooked, adding the extra cup of stock if needed.
- Blitz briefly so some of the carrot is mashed, thus helping sauce to thicken. This sauce should be fairly thick and not watery. See pic.
- Heat stock in a medium saucepan until boiling. Add cauliflower florets, whole onion, cloves & bay leaves. Put lid on, turn down to a simmer and let cook for 30 mins until very mushy. Strain & keep 1 cup of the liquid. Remove the onion, cloves & bay leaves. Blitz until it is the consistency of béchamel sauce, adding reserved liquid if you need to. Add grated nutmeg and stir.
- Next add 1 tsp olive oil and blitz again, this will make it silky smooth & creamy. Add salt n pepper to taste & let cool.
- In a bowl, added all of the ingredients together. Mix until well combined and set aside.
- Preheat oven to 200oC.
- Trim top and bottom and slice your zucchini length ways. You may also wish to peel any thick green skin off or blemishes.
- Place on an oven tray in a single layer. Spray with oil spray and bake for approx. 10 mins until starting to go golden and translucent. See pic.
- Preheat oven to 200oC if you haven't already.
- Place 1 cup tomato sauce in a 32cm x 19cm casserole dish. Place a layer of the zucchini slices on top. Then a layer of bechamel. Then about 1/2 cup of the "cheese" mix. Then a layer of zucchini. Then a layer of the tomato sauce. Then the final layer of zucchini. Then a final layer of bechamel. Top with the "cheese". Spray with oil.
- Place uncovered in the oven and bake for approx 8-15 mins, until well browned and bubbly on top. All layers are pre-cooked so this is to gel them together and get a crunchy brown yummy top.
- Let it sit for a few minutes as you prepare a basic Italian salad. Season with salt and black pepper. Carefully cut into pieces and serve.
- Do not underbake as it will be mushy and raw tasting. Better err on the side of dark brown or burnt than raw for this recipe.
- You can make up each component the day before then assemble & bake last minute too.
- This can be frozen into portions, great for a quick & satisfying meal.
- Also keeps in the fridge for at least five days.
- You can replace the zucchini with eggplant or any other flat low starch vegetable.
- Yields 6 large slices
- This panel is inaccurate. I have requested it is altered. Total calories per serve is 62. Net carbs per serve is 5.2g.
Stephanie Clarke
June 16, 2016
I was just wanting a little information as I find your website intriguing. I am extremely overweight and have tried lots of things over my life. Your recipes look fantastic. Can I ask why you live this lifestyle – was it weight or personal choice? I hope this is not rude. If it was a sudden change for you, was it hard? Do you miss other foods. Also do you have teenagers in the home that eat the same as you do. Thank you so much.
Joni Condos
June 16, 2016
Hi Stephanie ! Ah good question, back in 2014 Optifast VLCD was suggested to me by my DR as I was overweight and had PCOS , was in danger of type II diabetes etc. so I started Optifast, bored out of my brain with the food, so decided to start experimenting, so essentially these recipes use the vegetables that you can have on this program.
Once I set up OptiCook people living vegan lifestyles or with food allergies got on board, so it has grown from there.
I’ve been a vegetarian all my life, since age four, so am used to not eating meat or much dairy. My whole family eats this way now, except I do add protein and carb to theirs. We have one small child, a toddler, so it’s a bit easier. I’m not sure how they’d go with teenagers !
So it did kind of come as a drastic change, but went along with the Optifast program, so I just followed it and have kept it off for nearly two years now. It’s a total lifestyle change. It has to be or else you yo-yo and that’s not good for your body or mind !
Hoe this helps, please feel free to check out the “about me” little section as it gives more info there too,
Cheers, Joni
Ally McPherson
July 18, 2016
Hi, I made this using the Slendia lasagne sheets and achieved a better result than my last one, however my tomato sauce part was still too watery. I will attempt again using less water in my stock. Still a very delicious recipe !!
Joni Condos
July 18, 2016
Ah that’s great Ally ! You’ll find that using the Slendier sheets means you do need to minus some stock or water from the tomato sauce as the sheets don’t absorb any water whereas the veggies do 🙂 give a go, I’d love to hear how you go, you’re doing fabulously ! Joni
Kym
August 14, 2016
I made this on the weekend and it was incredible. I made it without the “cheese” mix and put a handful of real cheese, about 50 grams in the middle layer of cauliflower sauce (We’re not vegan or doing optifast at the moment). It came out quite sloppy but I didnt care as it tasted glorious. Even my fussy children lapped it up and my mum didn’t believe it didnt have meat. Yes it takes some time but definitely worth it in my opinion. Thanks so much for the recipe.
Ally McPherson
August 15, 2016
Just an update.. made this again with Slendier sheets and left out the 3 cups of stock and achieved a much better result. Definitely a winner.
Joni Condos
August 23, 2016
Oh fabulous ! This will be helpful for others considering the same thing too, thank you ! Joni ?