tricolore lasagne

I absolutely adore lasagne. On cold, wet and windy days like today, lasagne makes the perfect comfort food. There’s no savoury food that I enjoy as much as pasta, so of course lasagne has to be one of my favourite dishes. To me, this recipe is pure, filling, delicious comfort. This is known as my Tricolore Lasagne, as it features three key elements; a tomato sauce, a cream sauce and a pesto, with three different colours; red, white and green.

I packed the tomato sauce with different vegetables to add varying elements of flavour and texture. The tomatoes and vegetables bring a perfect fresh taste to the recipe, and also lighten up the dish. Then, I swirled in spoonfuls of thick, rich pesto filled with garlic and basil flavours. Next I of course, combined them with a creamy sauce. This sauce has a mildly cheesy, lemon & garlic taste, which I made using cashews and nutritional yeast flakes. Together, I layered these three elements between Brown Rice lasagne sheets by Rizopia. I used their pasta as it has a nice soft texture, and you don’t have to do any preparation to them before using. However, you can of course choose whatever type of lasagne you like!

After layering the dish together, I simply bake it in the oven for between 35-40 minutes, allowing the smell of delicious Italian flavours to fill my kitchen. After it’s cooked, I like to serve it up with a generous portion of a refreshing side salad for myself. Mmm! I hope you enjoy the recipe.

tricolore lasagne

serves 8-10

ingredients

for the lasagne:

12 lasagne sheets

for the tomato sauce:

1 onion (95g)

1 carrot (125g)

1 courgette (zucchini) (150g)

3 mushrooms (100g)

1 stick celery (40g)

1 large clove garlic

1 tbsp olive oil

1 400g tin chopped tomatoes

1 500g carton passata

1 tbsp dried basil

1 tsp yeast extract (marmite)

2 tsp vegetable stock powder – I used bouillon

salt and pepper, to taste

for the pesto:

1 cup (50g) fresh basil

1/3 cup (50g) pine nuts

1 large clove garlic, crushed

1/2 tsp nutritional yeast flakes

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp lemon juice

generous pinch salt and pepper

for the creamy sauce:

1/3 cup (50g) cashews

1 cup (250ml) water

3 tbsp lemon juice

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 tsp vegetable stock powder – I used bouillon

2 tsp nutritional yeast flakes

freshly ground pepper, to taste

method

PREHEAT YOUR OVEN TO 200C / 329 F

1. Firstly, prepare the pesto. Add the basil, pine nuts and garlic into your blender and blend, allowing them to break down. Then add in the olive oil, lemon juice, yeast flakes, salt and pepper. Blend all of the ingredients again, until the mixture has become smooth and creamy. When this is done, remove the pesto from the blender and scoop into a bowl, setting aside until later.

2. Next, make the creamy sauce. Add the cashews, water, lemon juice, garlic, vegetable stock, yeast flakes and pepper into a blender. Then, blend all of the ingredients together until smooth. When this is done, pour the cream into a jug and also set it aside until later.

3. Now, prepare the tomato sauce. Add the onion, carrot, courgette, mushrooms, celery and garlic into a food processor. Blitz them together until finely chopped. Then, add the olive oil into a large pan/wok and place onto a medium heat. Pour in the chopped vegetables, and fry for 3-4 minutes until golden. Then add in the chopped tomatoes, passata, vegetable stock, oregano, yeast extract, and salt and pepper. Continue to cook for another 5-6 minutes.

4. At this point, pour the creamy cashew mixture into another pan, and place onto a low medium heat. Heat through alongside the tomato sauce for the remaining 5-6 minutes, stirring and allowing the sauce to thicken. Then, when the time is up, remove both of the sauces from the heat.

5. Now, assemble the lasagne. Lay four of the lasagne sheets onto the base of a fairly large heat proof dish. Then pour half of the tomato sauce on top of it. Next, scoop about half of the pesto on top of that, a spoonful at a time. Drop the spoonfuls of pesto randomly on top of the sauce, then, using a knife swirl it into the tomato sauce. After this, drizzle about one third of the creamy sauce on top in a swirling pattern, using a spoon.

6. Next, press another four lasagne sheets on top. Then, top with the remaining half of the tomato sauce – sparing about 2-3 tbsp worth for the final layer. Then, swirl the remaining pesto on top – sparing about 1 tbsp for the final layer. Finally, drizzle with another third of the creamy sauce.

7. Then, press the final four lasagne sheets on top of that layer. Pour the remaining creamy sauce on top, spreading with a spoon to cover the lasagne sheets. Then, take the remaining tomato sauce and pesto, and swirl on top of the creamy sauce. When this is done, transfer the lasagne into the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes until heated through.

8. When the lasagne has cooked, remove it from the oven, slice into portions and serve.