Vegetarian Lasagne or chilli

[fifilala]

Got a veggie coming to stay at the weekend - anyone got a recipe to make an interesting chilli or veggie Lasagne, seems boring I know but thought it would be easy (they do eat cheese etc)

Veg Lasagne - this one here

It's not all that interesting or original but I do quite a nice roasted med vegetable lasagne - courgettes, fennel, onion, aubergine, peppers and a head of garlic with the top snipped off, coarsely chopped, well-doused in olive oil and roasted for about an hour in a medium oven.
Either then chop finely or blitz with hand whisk (depends on whether there are veg-despising children to be hoodwinked here) and then stir into a previously made tomato sauce with a good dollop of balsamic vinegar and spoonful of sugar added.
Layer with spinach lasagne.
Lots of black pepper, a good white sauce on top with nutmeg added and pecorico sprinkled all over. Goes down well with my discriminating veggie sister. If the kids are nowhere around I include chopped olives and capers in the tomato sauce too.

pecorico? PECORINO!

I make veggie chilli using Quorn mince

450g quorn mince
2x tins toms
1 tablespoon tom puree
1 large onion chopped finely
1 clove garlic chopped finely
1 tin red kidney beans drained and rinsed
1 green pepper chopped
1 courgette chopped
1 carrot diced
1 celery stick diced
2 teaspoons dark soy sauce
salt and pepper
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 tablespoon of COCOA POWDER (secret Mexican tip)
chilli powder to taste (1 teaspoon here - we like it hot!)

Fry onion and garlic until soft, add chopped veg and continue to fry gently for 5 minutes.

In another pan put quorn mince with soy sauce and stir till browned. Add quorn to veg and mix. Add toms, tom puree, seasoning, cumin, cocoa, chilli and bring to boil. Simmer for 10 minutes. Add kidney beans for last 5 minutes of cooking time.

Make sure that they will actually eat Quorn though, because some vegetarians don't (it's made with battery eggs).

you could use soya mince instead?

WWB, I tought Quorn was a mycoprotein (like a mushroom tpye fungus)??
It is approved by the vegetarian society.

You're right that certain types of Quorn now use free-range egg as a binder and are deemed acceptable by the Vegetarian Society. Other forms, however, are not, and some vegetarians (me, for one) don't use Quorn at all because even if part of the range is free-range, most of it isn't.

WWB, I stand humbly corrected have just googled Quorn and you are right, the protein is bound by egg white.
Maybe the vegetarian society needs to know!

Quorn started using free-range eggs a few years ago in some of their range - I think that the mince and chunks are OK, but the ready meals and so on aren't. I just prefer not to use the stuff until their whole range is free from battery egg, and thought it worth the warning that other veggies might feel likewise!

Also, if the poster's friend is veggie because of the texture of meat in addition to the principle, then the texture of quorn would be yeuk.
Green lentil chilli is nice substitute.

WWB, is all your household veggie? I am interested as I am a lapsed veggie. DH refuses to change and I am not sure I could force DD into veggie eating (she is 3)

instead of quorn or vegemince i often use tinned green lentils .
brown and onion(chopped), some garlic, a pinch of cumin in a pan. Add drained tin of lentils and stir. add tin of chopped tomatoes, a table spoon of pesto and pinch of sugar, cook for about 15 minutes adding a little water if dry. Can also add chopeed peppers or fresh chilli. layer this sauce with lasagne sheets and top with a cheese sauce and grated cheese. weekly favorite in our house as dd will not eat mince and dh is a veggie.
also lentils have good nutritional value and are btter for you than quorn.( more fibre)

thanks sorrel!

No, just me. I started dd off as a veggie, but because dh still eats meat, she saw it and wanted to try. I can't force her into a veggie diet, any more than I could force dh, it's my choice and it has to be hers too.

hey gingerbear- great minds think alike!

Do you tend to cook two meals though? That drives me mad. I do that sometimes if DH and I want a hot spicy meal, and DD fancies sausage broccoli and pasta (no sauce mummy, don't like it...)

Likewise WWB - dp isn't, ds isn't, I am. Having siad that we eat an awful lot of veggie meals cos I do most of the cooking...

Blackduck, maybe I should start using that tactic too!

I'll only cook two meals if there are common elements (eg sausages and mash - meat sausages for dp and non meat for me...) - have to say dp is fairly amenable - he eats what he's given

I do a lasagne with roast vegies, feta cheese, basil and creme fraiche. But my receipe is at home! It is yum yum and looks posh for a dinner party. And you can make it in advance to save stress and a furrowed brow on the day.

I will try and remember it from memory (eh?) and type it later when I have time.

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Sometimes we all eat veggie, sometimes I cook two meals, sometimes I do one meal and add the meaty bits to his half, and sometimes I can't be bothered and one of us gets the home-cooked stuff while the other has a ready-meal. It depends on the mood!

Message withdrawn

Shudder at meat eaters, but still cook meat for dh, so as long as I don't impose my values on him, no-one suffers.

Cod, are you having a Gordon Ramsey moment????