About a million words about lasagna
47 years ago, my parents took my oldest brother to visit my aunt in Delaware. According to my mom, her sister served a lasagna with a white sauce, and it's been a Christmas Eve tradition to have lasagna ever since. I don't...think...they were visiting over the holidays? But her sister's lasagna was so damned good and special that it went on regular rotation for our family's Christmas Eve meal for 47 years. I mean! I can only hope that my cooking ever makes an impression on someone like that, dang.
So the lasagna I grew up with (it's not anywhere near vegan) is a meaty red sauce, noodles (duh), white sauce (béchamel), mozzarella, and ricotta. The white sauce is layered on top of mozzarella in the middle layer only, so this lasagna has an incredibly rich treat nestled within. Y'all, this lasagna is dope. We all looked forward to eating it on Christmas Eve for days in advance. It's one of those dishes that you daydream about, and when you finally eat it, it does not disappoint. It's creamy without being greasy, every single bite so savory your mouth waters just thinking about the next bite to come. You're actually sad when your piece is finished. There is a reason this sucker has stuck around for so long.
There have been variations, of course. Some of us tinkered with vegetarianism here and there, so there is a spinach version, which I point blank told my mom yesterday is not as good as the original. We appreciate honesty in my family, ok? We've even had years where we've had three different versions (my mom's meat lasagna, my sister-in-law's vegetarian one, and my vegan one), although that felt strangely competitive when it came to watching who ate what and which one disappeared first (Mom won obviously).
So here's the trick: how do you make a tradition-worthy lasagna that is decadent and craveable (competition-winning, even), but vegan? Honestly, I long ago gave up on just replacing ingredients one for one when trying to recreate the food memories nestled in my brain, unless it's something simple like swapping out butter. It just doesn't always work, so instead I try to create something equally as wonderful with the same qualities, even if it's not just exactly the same. Because the thing is, real talk, animal fat makes stuff taste good. I can't compete directly with that, but I can take a back door creative approach to make a dish that rivals the original. That is definitely possible. I think...that I've done it.
My lasagna has homemade marinara made chunky with veggies of your choosing, bright and punchy basil pesto, and sumptuous dollops of tofu ricotta. It does not skimp on flavor, nor does it skimp on fat. One piece is a meal, and you won't be bummed to eat it for leftovers 6 days running if you live alone.
Vegan Daughter's Lasagna
13 lasagna noodles
For the sauce:
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, minced
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes
2 tsp dried basil
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar
pepper, to taste
optional: dry red wine
For texture, choose one or a combination of:
4-ish cups zucchini, eggplant, tvp or vegan ground beef, bell peppers, mushrooms
1 Tbsp olive oil
salt
For the ricotta:
3 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp mellow white miso
juice of 1 lemon
14-16 oz firm tofu, drained
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp salt
optional add-ins:
handful fresh chiffonaded basil, a package of vegan parm, and/or (yes, and/or) a package of vegan ricotta
For the pesto:
1/4 cup cashews or walnuts
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
3 cups packed fresh basil
1/4-1/3 cup olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
1/2 tsp salt, to taste
Ok, let's get started.
1. Make the sauce
Wouldn't it be funny if I just Great British Baking Show'd you all, and that was it?
Anyway, heat the oil in a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Sauté the onion in the oil with a tiny sprinkle of salt until it's soft, then add the garlic and herbs and stir for 30 seconds or so. If you're using red wine, throw a splash in there now and let it bubble for a minute or so (or skip that step). Add the crushed tomatoes, salt, sugar, and pepper. Bring it to a simmer, stir, then reduce the heat to very low, cover, and leave it alone. Well, stir it once in awhile, but you can basically forget about it for awhile.
2. Texture time
Whatever you chose for your texture, prep it. You'll want to dice veggies small enough to not be annoying, but large enough that they keep texture. You know what size that is, right? If you're using tvp, reconstitute it and drain. If you're using eggplant, put it in a colander after you've cut it up, add a hefty sprinkling of salt and let it sit for a half hour (you should probably do this before you start the sauce) - then rinse well and drain. Any of the veggies/mince I've listed above can be added to the pan all at the same time, so you can prep all this just in a big bowl.
Heat the oil in a large, deep, wide pan over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add your texture ingredients with a sprinkle of salt. We're going to let these cook for awhile so that most of the moisture evaporates. This can take anywhere from 10-20 minutes (stir occasionally so that they cook evenly), depending on the veggies you're using. You want them to be relatively dry-ish (like no standing juice in the bottom of the pan), otherwise your lasagna will be watery. Gross.
While those cook,
3. Make the ricotta
In a medium or large bowl (depending on if you're adding any extras), add the olive oil, miso, and lemon juice. Stir briskly with a fork to make a paste, then crumble in the tofu. If you didn't press your tofu, you can just kind of squeeze it by the handful over the sink before crumbling in to the bowl. It's ok if it's a little wet, but you don't want it sopping. Add the rest of the ingredients (including add-ins of your choice) and stir with a fork until it resembles the crumbly texture of ricotta. Cover and set aside to let the flavors get to know one another.
4. Make the pesto
In the bowl of a medium or large food processor, add the nuts, garlic, and nutritional yeast. Pulse until the mixture is crumbly. Add the basil (you may have to do this in batches, pulsing to lower the volume in between, if your food processor is small) and lemon juice. Then, with the food processor running, drizzle in the olive oil. Start with the low end measurement and add more as you need. I like a lot of olive oil in mine, but you do you so long as you end up with something between a paste and a liquid. Add the salt and run for another few seconds, then taste for seasoning; adjust. Set aside.
5. Set some water on to boil.
Biggest pot you've got. Salt your water. If you cover your pot, it'll boil faster.
6. Taste your sauce.
Add more salt or sugar, to taste. If it tastes sour, that's how you know it needs more sugar. If you can't taste the herbs, add more salt. It should, honestly, taste like store-bought jarred marinara at this point, except better because you made it with love!
7. Your texture has to be done by now...depending on which pot/pan has more room, combine your sauce and texture mix in that and stir. Taste one more time for salt, add more if needed. Take off the heat.
8. Your water might be boiling? Cook your noodles according to the package when it is. We're looking for al dente here, since they're going into the oven after. After you drain them, rinse in cold water so they don't stick. I know this is sacrilege. Do it anyway.
9. Preheat your oven to 350°F and get your deepest 9x13 inch pan handy. It's time to...
10. Assemble!
In the bottom of your pan, put a ladleful or two of sauce, spread to make a thin layer that covers the pan. Then add 4 noodles, so that the edges slightly overlap - there way there is no gap in the noodles. On top of this layer of noodles, spread half of the pesto using the back of a spoon to cover the exposed noodles, then a sprinkling about 1/3 of the ricotta mixture, then a thin layer of sauce. You might have to use your hands for the ricotta.
4 more noodles, edges overlapping. This next layer gets the rest of the pesto, and the second third of the ricotta. No sauce!
4 more noodles, edges overlapping. Pour the rest of the sauce on, spreading to the edges. Take the final third of the ricotta and, using your hands, make little lumpy meatball-sized dollops and place them on the top. I like to do about 9, one for each slice. Some folks might say this lasagna serves 12, so you could do 12 if you wanted. You can also save a little pesto to dollop on top if you like.
Cover, either with the pan's lid or foil, and bake for 20 minutes, then uncover and bake 15 minutes longer to brown the top.
Let it sit! For at least 10, preferably 20 minutes after removing from the oven. The hotter it is, the harder it is to get a nice slice.
Some Notes
Mince the onion in the sauce really small. I don't blend my sauce because I like it chunky, but lots of big chunks of onion can be off-putting, so you want them to kind of melt into the sauce. Don't, like, stress about it, but mince it, you know?
Don't skimp on the sugar in your sauce. If you've never made marinara before, it might surprise you that there's sugar in there, but the sugar balances the tartness of the tomatoes, and is necessary! I actually like even a little extra sugar in my sauce.
I use white lasagna noodles. Honestly, I'm over it with whole wheat pasta. I also don't know how to do this recipe with those no-cook noodles, so...good luck if you want to use those!
For vegan parmesan, I like theFollow Your Heart shreds. They get melty in the ricotta and nicely brown when you do the final leg of baking. For vegan ricotta, I like theKite Hill version. I don't like it on its own, really, but it's good mixed in with the above recipe to make a kind of super ricotta. You could go buck wild and add both of them. I've done it, it's good.
Don't stress too much about getting your layers perfect. Things kind of meld together in the oven, plus what's the worst that could happen?
To store, I plop the whole pan, tightly covered, into the fridge and just cut slices for lunch/dinner as need be. I've eaten it up to 6 days after cooking and it was still awesome. To reheat, if you have time and an oven-safe dish, do it in the oven: put the lasagna in your oven-safe dish into your cold oven, then preheat to 350°F. Once preheated, it'll be ready in about 10 minutes. When you can smell it, it's probably ready.
It's less photogenic this way, but still beautiful in its own way.
