Vegetarian Lasagne

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Had a really nice one at restaurant a few weeks ago. Fancied giving it a go for a tea this week. Anyone got a good recipe for it?

Do you want the vegetable one - if so I haven't got a recipe for that.

I use Quorn mince (well actually I use Tesco's own brand veggie mince) and simply substitute that for the beef mince and do everything else exactly the same. My kids love it!

Incidentally, we went to a wedding a couple of months ago and the chef asked prior to the day what the veggie people amongst the congregation would like making for them. I requested Quorn mince lasagne for all my kids and the chef duly delivered and it was lovely. Even nicer knowing he's gone to the trouble to do it especially.

QueenEagle would love a recipe for both just vegetables and using veggie mince. Cooking for a vegetarian friend soon and always been a bit scared of using quorn It was really nice of the chef to do that at the wedding so often nowadays its a set menu you are offered. Usually made up of things you don't really like!

When I make veggie lasagne I don't use any mince substitute at all. I'm not keen on the texture of mince and therefore am not really keen on vegetarian substitutes either. I put loads of veggies in - onions, garlic, carrots, baby corn, red pepper, sweetcorn. A good tip is to add a small amount of cinammon, say half a tsp & half a tsp of brown sugar, into the tomato sauce, it gives it a really nice flavour.

Good luck.

i sometimes do a lentil lasagne.... i thik it is very yummy and a nice change from mince and quorn and the like. i just use the lentils where i would use the mince.

I make one with onions, red lentils, carrots, celery and cottage cheese in. Sounds quite revolting but makes a tasty, creamy sauce.

alittlebitshy - what lentils do you use? I hate all the soaking that goes with them - are there any you don't have to do this with?

I've got a fabulous recipe for a veggy lasagne but its its own dish rather than trying to be meat iykwim? it involves spinach and mushrooms (I hate spinach normally but this is just yum)

lasagne
1 3/4 lbs (800g) spinach
tsp butter
tsp dried marjoram
12oz (350g ricotta cheese
salt and pepper

For the Sauce
6 oz (175g) mushrooms sliced
1 oz butter
1/4 pint veg stock
tsp soy sauce
3 oz (75g) grated cheddar or parmesan

pre-heat oven to gas 6 / 200C

Wash spinach well (or use the frozen stuff). cook gently for 6 - 8 minutes in a pan (you don't need to add anything). When cooked strain it well and chop finely.

Put spinach back in the pan and season well .. over a low heat add butter and marjoram and stir. Then take it off the heat. When its cooled down mix in the ricotta and season well .

To make sauce
saute mushrooms in butter, reduce heat and cook for 10 mins. Add the stock and simmer for a further 5 mins. Puree then add the soy sauce and season.

The spoon some spinach filling into your lasagne dish .. cover with lasagne then mushroom sauce .. repeat until finished ingredients ending on mushroom sauce. Sprinkle over grated cheese and bake for 35 - 40 minutes

it really is delicious

A word of warning though - soy sauce is NOT veggie.

Lentils one sounds really different and tasty. I'll have to omit the crean cheese as DH is allergic to cheese.

You could use crumbled tofu instead of cheese in any of these recipes - just add more or less stock to adjust the consistency as necessary...

QE, why do you think soy sauce is not veggie? It's just fermented soy beans, I believe.

its worcestershire sauce that isn't veggie

My veggie lasagne recipe:

Vegetable Lasagne
Ingredients

225g carrots
225g courgettes
1 onion
100g celery
1 chicken stock cube (or vegetable stock cube if catering for vegetarians. I prefer the flavour the chicken stock cube gives though)
25g butter
2 level tablespoons of flour
½ pint of milk
salt and pepper (I tend to omit this as I forget, and it's probably healthier without and there's salt in the stock - still tasty)
175g lasagne (although this depends on the dish size - get the quick cook stuff not the one you have to precook)
175g grated cheddar cheese
Method

1. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F Gas Mark 5)

2. Place the chopped vegetables in a saucepan with the stock cube and ¼ pint boiling water. Yes, I know that doesn't look enough fluid, but trust me, it is. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes.

3. Melt the butter in a pan, stir in the flour and cook gently for one minute, stirring. Remove the pan from the heat and gradually stir in the milk. Bring to the boil and continue to cook, stirring, until the sauce thickens, then add seasoning to taste. If too thick, add a little stock from the vegetables.

4. Put layers of vegetables, lasagne, and only two thirds of the cheese (alternatively!) in a shallow, oblong or square, 3 pint dish, finishing with a layer of lasagne. Pour the sauce over the top and cover with the rest of the cheese.

5. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes.

6. Serve with salad and/or crusty bread.

Serves: 4

Here's mine - been a success since student days.

Take courgettes, mushrooms, onion. Chop them and fry them with crushed garlic.
Add tin of chopped tomatoes, or use skinned fresh ones if you can be bothered.
Add two big handfuls of fresh spinach and allow to cook down - about 2 mins.
Add a good handful of basil, preferably fresh, few twists of black pepper, and teaspoon of brown sugar.
Leave to simmer for 10 mins or so while you sort out the cheese sauce.

Cheese sauce:
Melt tablespoon of butter in saucepan and mix with enough flour to make a thick paste. Add milk, approx. half a pint or so depending on how thick you like your sauce) and stir with balloon whisk until milk is just reaching boiling point. Remove from heat and add two handfuls of grated cheese.

Pour veg mixture into bottom of lasagne dish, top with enough sheets of lasagne pasta to cover, then top with half of cheese sauce. Repeat. Sprinkle more grated cheese over top and bake in oven at gas 6 for 20 mins or so, until pasta is cooked and cheese is golden and bubbly.

Remove from oven and eat with big salad and garlic bread - yum.

Seems I might have to eat my words on the soy sauce one, maybe I was thinking of Worcestershire Sauce, sorry

Phew, thought maybe you knew something I didn't, QE

sorry QE been out all day.

both sainsburys and tescos do red lentils (and tescos now do ones called something like lentils continental) that are no-soak. they only take 30 mins max to cook too!!!!

These recipes look fantastic, I have one to add also:
Spinach Lasagna with Bechmel Sauce - American Measurements though:
1 16 oz package of lasagna noodles Bechamel cheese sauce:
Olive Oil ¼ cup butter
2 salad packages of fresh spinach ¼ tsp nutmeg
1 medium onion chopped finely 2 cups milk
1 clove garlic minced 1/3 cup flour
1 tsp dried oregano 2 cups grated cheddar cheese
Separately: ¼ cup parmesan cheese
28 oz can of chopped tomatoes Pepper to taste
1 tsp oregano
½ tsp basil
1 tsp sugar
Salt and Pepper to taste
METHOD

This is a great dish to make ahead and freeze. Boil the lasagna noodles according to package directions. Add a bit of oil to the water so that they don?t stick. In a sauté pan, add olive oil and sauté the onions until transparent, add the garlic, chopped spinach and oregano and sauté until the spinach is wilted. Set this aside. In a separate saucepan, empty can of tomatoes, add oregano, basil and sugar and simmer for 15 minutes. In the meantime, make the béchamel sauce. In a separate saucepan, melt butter, add the 1/3 cup flour and stir until flour changes color. Gradually add the milk with a whisk and bring up to simmer, next add the cheeses and pepper to taste and lastly add the grated nutmeg. In an 11 X 13 baking dish (I use a coated cast iron one), layer a bit of the tomato sauce, then place the first layer of lasagna noodles. Over the noodles spread another layer of tomatoes, then a layer of béchamel sauce, then top with the layer of spinach using all of the spinach. Add another layer of lasagna noodles, final layer of tomato and another of béchamel sauce. Add on last layer of lasagna noodles and final layer of béchamel sauce and additional grated cheese if you desire. Bake in a 350 degree oven (180C) for 45 minutes or until the top is golden and bubbly. This is delicious with a green salad and crusty bread.

Twiglett and Georgina: Can I use your recipes in my fundraiser cookbook? I will print your Mumsnet name as the contributor if that's OK with you. Let me know, I would love to have them, I don't have enough vegetarian recipes that are tried and true--those look really tasty!

sorry sunchowder .. its not my recipe .. its straight out of sarah brown's vegetarian kitchen book

Hey! We can give her credit too Twiggy! I will post the Sara Brown's Vege Cookbook after your name to make it "legal"--I have done this with several of the recipes in the book if they were not modified in any way that I know of. I have left it up the contributors to tell me if it was original or taken from a book, if from a book, I will always give the book credit. (Hopefully I will not be arrested when this is over, but I think I am doing the right thing).

I will only use it with your blessing though, I would never want to make you uncomfortable.

I will not be surprised if you momentarily lose the ability to read the following

... if you are making money from it (whatever the noble cause) you need the actual author's written approval otherwise its copyright..