Butternut Squash, Sweet Potato and Spinach Vegan Lasagne

I've been meaning to put a recipe for a Veggie Lasagne online for sometime, but decided against it as I thought I'd try something a little more challenging, a Vegan Lasagne.

The cheese sauce topping is made using Sheese, a dairy free cheese substitute and there's a recipe for Macaroni Cheese on their website that I adapted the sauce from.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients -

2x Medium Onions, Grated
2x Cloves Garlic, Grated
1x Carrot, Grated
1/2x Medium Butternut Squash, Peeled, deseeded and chopped into 1cm cubes (keep the seeds for garnishing the top of the lasagne)
1x Sweet Potato, Peeled and chopped into 1cm cubes
200g Mushrooms, Sliced
150g Spinach, Washed
6x Vine Ripened Tomatoes, Halved
6-8x Sheets of Lasagne Verdi (you may require more depending on the size of the oven dish you are using)
1x Slice of Bread, Crumbed
2tbsp Sun-dried Tomato Purée
125g Gouda Sheese, Grated
300ml, Soya Milk
Olive Oil
1tsp Oregano
1tsp Basil
A pinch of Sage
Salt and Pepper to taste

Note - The above picture of my ingredients shows a tin of Tomatoes that I didn't end up using, please ignore.

Start by grating onions, garlic and carrot and adding to a frying pan with a little oil, salt, the oregano and basil. Heat to a medium temperature and cook gently for around ten minutes.

Whilst this is frying, peel and chop the squash and sweet potato. I find it best to cut the squash just above the bulbous part, as this separates the lower section that needs deseeding and the upper that does not.

Scoop the seeds and pith out into a bowl of warm water and set aside for now. Leaving the seeds to soak for around 45 minutes to an hour in water will soften the pith and allow them to be easily separated later.

Chop the sweet potato and butternut squash into 1cm cubes and add to a pan of water and bring to the boil. Parboil for around 5 minutes, there's no real need to cook for much longer as they will cook further in the oven dish later on.

Slice mushrooms and tomatoes and add to the pan with the onions, carrots and garlic and cook for a further 5 minutes. Drain the water from the squash and sweet potato and add to the pan. 

Preheat the oven to 180°c. Mix the ingredients in the pan thoroughly, adding in the tomato purée and spinach, allow to heat gently whilst you begin to prepare the Sheese sauce.

If you would prefer to make a dairy based topping, simply follow the sauce recipe from the Casareccia and Cheddar Bake post here. For the Sheese sauce, add around 50ml of olive oil to a non stick pan and slowly heat and stir, as though making a roux. Next start to gradually add in the grated Gouda, leaving around 25g aside for topping the lasagne later. As you add the Sheese it can tend to clump together a little, unlike regular cheese. Do not worry as it begins to melt properly as you add in the soya milk. 

Slowly begin to mix in the soya milk and heat gently until the Sheese is fully melted. You can always add in more/less soya milk should the mixture be too thick/runny, also add extra herbs and a little pepper to the sauce to give it a deeper flavour.

At this point, you should be able to separate seeds from the pith by placing in a colander and rinsing off any excess. Pat dry using kitchen roll and place on greaseproof paper in the preheated oven with a little salt and sage to season and cook for around 10 minutes, allowing to go golden brown. If you don't wish to add the seeds to the lasagne topping, they make a tasty snack on their own. 

Make your breadcrumbs, you can use store bought here if you wish however, I tend to bake one slice of wholemeal bread at around 140°c for 5 minutes until it dries out but doesn't toast and then finely chop.

Begin to layer the lasagne, starting at the base with the squash and sweet potato mixture, then add a layer of pasta followed by the mixture again and repeat until you reach the top of the dish, finishing up with a layer of pasta (remember to leave room for the Sheese topping).

Spread the Sheese sauce out evenly onto the top of the lasagne and bake for around 20mins in the oven at 180°c.

After 20 minutes, remove from the oven and add any extra toppings. In this case, extra sheese, breadcrumbs and squash seeds. Bake for a further 20-25 minutes until the topping is crisp and golden brown and the pasta has cooked.

Serve with a side salad and buttered crusty bread, Rose Lemonade optional.

Bon appétit!

JAB

Vegan Nut Roast and Gravy

So, it's December and time for a Rocket Bean nut roast (in plenty of time for Christmas), the best thing about this recipe is that it can be prepared well in advance (it should keep for around 3-4 days in the fridge) and served cold with hot gravy on the day for minimum effort. This recipe will make enough for 4 generous servings. Serve with all of the (veggie) trimmings.

Ingredients- 

For the Nut Roast-

For this recipe you will require a loaf/roasting tin for cooking the roast.

Oil, for frying

2x Small Onions, grated or chopped

3x Cloves Garlic, grated

4-6 Medium Mushrooms, finely chopped

200g Plain Flour

200g finely chopped Nuts (I'll be using a mixture of Cashews, Walnuts and Brazil Nuts)

300ml of Veg Stock

1x Slice of Bread, Made into Breadcrumbs

Dash of Dark Soy Sauce

Dash of (Vegan) Worcestershire Sauce

A Selection of Dried Herbs (My choice for this recipe is Rosemary, Sage and Oregano - roughly 1x tsp of each)

Salt and Pepper to taste

Extra Oil, for greasing the roasting tin

For the Gravy-

Oil, for frying

Onion, roughly chopped

2x garlic cloves, roughly chopped

4x Mushroom, Sliced (This makes for a creamier gravy)

1x heaped tbsp plain flour

1x tsp Marmite (or similar yeast extract)

450ml Veg Stock

1x tsp Dark Soy Sauce

1x tsp (Vegan) Worcestershire Sauce

Salt and Pepper to taste

Method - Firstly prepare your ingredients for the roast, the nuts can be purchased pre-chopped but I prefer to do it myself as you can have more choice over what mixture of nuts go into the roast.

Heat some oil in a large pan over a medium heat and add in the onion, garlic, half of the mixed herbs and heat for around 8-10 minutes stirring frequently. Next add in the mushrooms and cook for a further 5 minutes until they begin to soften. For breadcrumbs I tend to lightly toast one slice of bread and then chop very finely. Add the nuts, breadcrumbs and the rest of the mixed herbs to the mixture and cook for around 5-10 minutes at a low heat (this is not essential but I think the nuts have a better flavour if they are browned in the pan before adding the stock). Next add in the 300ml of veg stock, soy and worcestershire sauce and stir well.

This next part of the recipe is very similar to the burger recipe posted on Rocket Bean back in October. In order to thicken up the mix you need to gradually stir the 200g of flour into the mix, adding about 1 heaped tbsp at a time, ensuring to mix well after each spoonful added.

This is the messy part, so it is generally a good idea to preheat the oven to 140°c and grease the roasting tin before getting your hands dirty. Turn the mixture out onto a floured board, sprinkle some extra flour on top of the mix and knead it into one large 'patty' shape. See image below. 

Turn the floured mixture into the roasting tin and press into shape using your hands. Place in the oven, I find that the best method for cooking this roast is at a low temperature for a long time, around 1hr30mins to 2hrs. This allows the sticky mixture to dry out somewhat. However, leaving it to cool before serving can also help in the 'drying-out' process.

Note: If you don't have time to slow cook the roast preheat the oven to 180°c and cook for around 30-40 mins until golden brown. I just prefer the outcome when slow cooked.

Take your time to carefully remove the nut roast from the tin, I find the best method is to carefully pry the sides away from the tin using a spatula and then overturning the tin onto a plate and gravity generally does the rest. 

Now for the gravy, which is a personal take on a brilliant recipe for a vegan gravy from vegetarian cookery writer Rose Elliot.

There's no need to finely chop anything for this recipe as you can blend the final mixture for a rich, creamy gravy.

As before, fry the onions and garlic in oil at a medium heat for around 5 mins until they begin to soften, now add in the mushrooms and sprinkle over your plain flour allowing the onions to brown from the flour. It is important to make sure you keep stirring this mixture as the flour can make the onions become very sticky and in turn they will stick to the base of the pan if left for too long.

Now reduce to a low heat and add in the veg stock, Marmite, soy, worcestershire sauce and allow to simmer gently for 10 minutes. Then, transfer the mixture to the blender and blend until smooth. The mixture can always be thinned down with water and seasoned to taste with salt and pepper after completion if you feel that the final outcome is too thick. The gravy can also be refrigerated for a day few days and reheated in a pan or the microwave.

Christmas Dinner - Vegan nut roast and gravy served with roast potatoes, roast parsnips, sprouts and broccoli. A little personal addition here is a touch of mint sauce, you can always substitute this with cranberry sauce to make it feel that little bit more Christmassy. 

JAB

Shepherd's Green Lentil Pie (and Roasted Chestnuts)

A nice, hearty winter recipe that uses red wine to create a delicious sauce for the lentil base. If you'd prefer to make a non-vegan version, Goat's cheese can be added to the mash in place of the nutritional yeast to give the dish a richer flavour. This recipe can serve up to 6 people, as a small amount can go a long way with some seasonal vegetables and gravy. 

Ingredients-

For the lentil base-

Oil, for frying

2x onions, chopped or grated

2x carrots, diced

4x garlic cloves , finely chopped

200g mushrooms, sliced

2x bay leaves

1x tsp dried thyme

1x tsp dried oregano

1x tsp dried sage

300g dried green lentils

200ml red wine (optional*)

500ml vegetable stock

3x tbsp tomato purée

*If you choose to leave out the wine from the dish you can top up the sauce with more stock or 200ml of water. 

For the mashed potato- 
700g of potatoes, peeled
25g of Soya spread
2x tbsp Soya Milk
Nutritional Yeast, Salt and Pepper to Taste

I would generally recommend not soaking the lentils prior to cooking as they will soak in the wine and the stock during cooking, taking on their flavour and moisture from that mixture.

Method - To make the sauce, heat the oil in a pan to a medium heat, then gently fry the onions, carrots, and garlic for 10-15 mins until soft and golden.

Next, turn up the heat, add the mushrooms and cook for around 5 mins. Stirring in the herbs whilst cooking.

Put the lentils into the pan, pour over the wine and stock and reduce the temperature to a medium setting - it's important that you do not season with salt at this stage as this can prevent the lentils from cooking properly. Simmer the mixture for 40-50 mins until the lentils are soft and the majority of the liquid has evaporated. It is important to stir frequently and keep the lentils moist, if they become too dry they can stick to the base of the pan and burn. Simply add more boiling water, wine or stock to the lentils to rectify this.

Whilst the lentils are cooking place the potatoes into a pan of boiling water for around 15mins, until tender.

Now is a good time to preheat the oven to 180°c.

The mixture should ideally look to be of a similar consistency to the above photograph, note that the wine and stock have been soaked up by the lentils.

Once the lentils are cooked, season the mixture to taste with salt and pepper, take off the heat and then stir in the tomato purée. Next, place into an ovenproof dish.

Once the potatoes are cooked Mash, add the butter, milk and nutritional yeast. Whisk to a smooth purée, season with salt and freshly milled black pepper and spread over the rest of the ingredients in the dish using a fork. Note: This was the first time I'd used nutritional yeast so it was very much an experiment. I used around 3 heaped tablespoons for the recipe and found that the yeast gives the mash a nutty flavour, although it did leave the mash a little hard when reheated the following day (a problem solved by adding a little gravy).

Place the dish into the oven and cook for around 20-25 mins or until the mashed potato topping starts to go a golden brown colour.

As a little extra to this we had some roasted chestnuts, what with Christmas on the way and all. Nice and easy to make - 

Score a cross into the skin of each nut deep enough to break the skin (makes for easier peeling later on) and place on a baking tray. Preheat the oven to 180°c and cook the chestnuts for around 20-30 mins. That's all there is to it, peel away the skins and enjoy a nice pre-Christmas treat!

JAB