Meatless Mondays: 3 ways for tasty but healthy vegetable lasagna
More and more people are trying to eat less meat these days. There are lots of good reasons to do so, from protecting the environment to improving your health. The trick when it comes to adapting your diet to this new lifestyle is to make sustainable changes. To make eating less meat appealing long term, it’s important to find plant-based meals that you really enjoy. To help you do just that, we’ve put together three veggie spins on one of the best-loved meat dishes out there: lasagna. Here’s how to make vegetable lasagna that tastes just as good as the original.
Making fresh pasta for a vegetarian lasagna recipe
With a machine: 1. Having rested your dough, divide into three equal portions. Keep two portions covered with a towel whilst you flatten one portion of dough into a rough rectangle. 2. Remember to flour your dough before passing it through the widest setting of the pasta machine. 3. Once extruded, reform your dough back into a rough rectangle before flouring once more, folding in half, and passing through the machine once again. 4. after preparing them. Tip: Always have extra flour close to hand so that you can liberally dust your lasagne sheets in-between passing them through the machine. Remember to fold the dough in half each time. 5. Now change the pasta machine to the middle setting, or manually reduce the space between the rollers, before once again passing your dough through the machine. This time, you don’t need to fold the dough after extrusion. 6. Repeat this step for all three portions of dough, and then move to the thinnest setting on the machine, or until your pasta sheets are roughly 3 inches wide and 1mm thick.
With a rolling pin: 1. Divide your dough into three equal portions. Take one portion and roughly roll flat before rotating it a quarter of the way round and rolling it out once again. Repeat this process to achieve an even thickness. 2. Cut your pasta into sheets to fit the size and shape of your lasagna dish. Tip: Whether by rolling pin or pasta machine, leave your lasagne sheets to air-dry on a floured cloth for around half an hour. Now you’re ready for the filling!
Squash lasagna recipe
If you’re looking for an easy no meat lasagna recipe look no further than squash. This tasty veg makes a great meat substitute and its vibrant color will give your dish added visual wow-factor.
Ingredients
Method Add the oil, onion, garlic, mushrooms, chopped tomatoes, thyme and squash in a saucepan and season to taste. Simmer on a low heat for 20-30 minutes until the veg is tender. Then make the sauce by melting the butter slowly and adding the flour spoonful by spoonful until a dough appears. Cook this for around 2 minutes on low, then gradually add the milk while whisking gently. Once cooked, layer the vegetable mix, béchamel sauce and pasta sheets in your dish until reaching the top. Sprinkle with parmesan and bake at 400°F for 45 minutes or until golden brown.
Eggplant lasagna recipe
Looking for a tasty vegetarian eggplant lasagna? Here’s our favorite:
Ingredients
Plus: Béchamel sauce and fresh lasagne sheets. Method Slice the eggplants, cover with olive oil, season and roast until soft and tender. While you’re doing that cook the onions, garlic, mushrooms and herbs in a pan until soft. Follow the above recipe for béchamel sauce. Use the onion/mushroom mixture as your first layer, then add the roasted eggplants, béchamel sauce and pasta. Continue layering up until you reach the top of the dish then sprinkle with parmesan. Bake for around 30 minutes at 400°F or until cooked right through.
Veggie lasagna with beetroot recipe
Beetroot is an unusual choice for a vegetable lasagna, but it works surprisingly well. Have a go making it with this recipe:
Ingredients
Plus: Béchamel sauce and fresh lasagne sheets. Method Roast the beets with olive oil and spices for 40 to 45 minutes, leave to cool, remove the skins and slice. Make the béchamel sauce as above, then layer sauce, beetroot slices, a handful of parmesan and pasta until you’re at the top of your dish. Cover with more sauce and parmesan then bake for 40 minutes until the pasta is soft.
