Vegan Lasagna

Of all the different ways you can make vegan lasagna, the tofu ricotta one has to be the worst. It’s so gross! It tastes nothing like ricotta and everything like tofu bathed in tomato sauce, ewww!
Cashews are a better option for making a cheesy sauce. They’re great for the potato and carrot-based vegan mac and cheese recipes, and I usually use cashews as sour cream like for these vegan pierogi. The problem with cashews? They’re expensive!
The other amazing thing about this vegan béchamel sauce is that it gratinates! So my spell check is telling me that gratinate is not a real word (pretty sure it is); what I mean is that the top of your lasagna goes brown and crispy like cheese would do but without the need for any fake, processed vegan cheese product! Win!

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 1 large onion, diced
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 600 grams (21 oz) button mushrooms, chopped (use the stems too)
• 2 carrots, diced
• 1 zucchini, diced
• 400 grams (14 oz) frozen spinach, thawed according to the package directions and squeezed
• 2 teaspoons salt, divided
• Pepper, to taste
• 2 cups (480 ml) unsweetened plant milk (I used soy)
• 1 cup (240 ml) vegetable stock
• ½ cup (75 grams) flour
• 2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
• 3 cups (700 ml / about a jar and a half) marinara sauce
• Lasagna noodles

Instructions

1. Heat a large pan over medium-high heat and add 2 tablespoons of the oil, the onion and garlic and fry until soft. Add the mushrooms and fry until browned (work in batches if they don’t all fit in your pan at once). Add the carrot and zucchini and fry a couple more minutes until soft. Finally add the thawed spinach, 1 ½ teaspoons of salt and pepper to taste.
2. Preheat the oven to 200° C / 400° F.
3. Combine the plant milk and stock in a bowl. Add the remaining 4 tablespoons of oil to a pan over medium heat and sift in the flour. Stir well. Cook for 5 - 10 minutes, stirring from time to time, until the flour begins to brown and gives off a nutty smell. Add one ladleful of the plant milk-stock mixture and whisk really well until evaporated. Continue adding the liquid one ladleful at a time and always stirring until you get a creamy sauce. If you’re unlucky and get some lumps, pass the sauce through a fine mesh strainer. Finally, stir in the nutritional yeast and remaining ½ teaspoon of salt.
4. ..............................

for full instruction please see : www.cilantroandcitronella.com

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