Extreme Vegetable Lasagne

Difficulty: Medium

Serves 6

All I could think about yesterday was attempting to make the best lasagne of all time, so last night I decided to do it. Some people make a meaty style lasagne with TVP, others prefer to pack it full of vegetables but being the kitchen maverick that I am, I chucked it all in. Just to let you know, I actually cooked this for two people but I knew I was going to want leftovers so I made stacks!

Ingredients

• 3 medium potatoes, thinly sliced
• 1/4 large pumpkin, thinly sliced
• 1 eggplant, thinly sliced
• 1 1/2 cups mushroom, thinly sliced
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 packet instant lasagne sheets
• 1/3 packet Cheezly (I used blue style)

Tomato Sauce

• 1 cup TVP
• 1 cup boiling water
• 1 “beef style” stock cube
• 1 small red onion, finely diced
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 2 cans diced tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon dried mixed herbs
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Béchamel Sauce

• 1/2  cup Nuttelex or vegan margarine
• 1/4 cup white flour
• 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
• 2-3 cups soy milk
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C and grease a large rectangular baking dish and baking trays.
2. Evenly spread out vegetables on baking trays and bake until cooked through.
3. Meanwhile, to make the tomato sauce, combine the TVP, stock cube and boiling water and set aside until water has been absorbed.
4. In a large pan, lightly fry the finely chopped red onion and garlic before adding the TVP, tomatoes, brown sugar, herbs and salt and pepper. Allow to fully heat through.
5. To make a quick and easy béchamel, melt Nuttelex in the microwave in a large jug.
6. Whisk in flour and nutritional yeast before cooking in the microwave for a further minute.
7. Slowly whisk in soy milk until your desired consistency is achieved and season with salt and pepper.
8. In the base of the baking dish, place down a layer of lasagne sheets (you may have to cut some to size).
9. Pour on a thin layer of tomato sauce followed by béchamel, pumpkin and mushrooms.
10. Add another layer of lasagne sheets before more tomato sauce, béchamel, eggplant, potato and onion.
11. Lay down a final layer of lasagne sheets and finish off with the remaining tomato sauce and béchamel.
12. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes before grating Cheezly on top. Bake for a further 15 minutes or until Cheezly has melted.
13. Serve piping hot!