Lentil Lasagne

Trinity's Kitchen

This Lentil Lasagne is vegan, gluten-free and packed with flavour. It’s a tasty alternative to classic lasagne and shows that meat and dairy don’t need to be the centrepiece of any meal. In fact, we’re confident that nobody will be able to tell the difference!

Next time you want to create a hearty and wholesome vegan meal for the family, this recipe will do the trick. Browse more vegan Italian recipes for further inspiration.

There's more where this came from!

Ingredients

1 large red onion

2 large cloves of garlic

200g (7oz) mushrooms

Splash of olive oil

200g (7oz) puy lentils (or brown lentils)

450ml (15fl oz) spring water

1 heaped teaspoon allspice

1 heaped teaspoon cinnamon

Pinch ground cardamom

500ml (17fl oz) passata (or tinned tomatoes)

1 heaped teaspoon coconut sugar

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 large handful fresh parsley

150g (5oz) rice pasta

1 small apple

For the Cashew ‘cheeze’ sauce:

100g (3½ oz) cashews

1 large lemon

Pinch black pepper

½ teaspoon sea salt

1 heaped teaspoon dried parsley

Extra water (to thin if needed)

Next time you want to create a hearty and wholesome vegan meal for the family, this recipe will do the trick. Browse more vegan Italian recipes for further inspiration.

Preparation

You will need:
An oven proof dish approx 21 x 15cm (6cm deep) or 8½ x 6 inches (2½in deep).

The cashew sauce is made by first soaking the cashews for up to an hour to make them soft enough to blend.

Method

Place the cashews into a mug or jug along with the juiced lemon, salt, pepper and parsley.
Allow the cashews to soak in the lemon juice for up to an hour and then blend with a blender to create a thick creamy sauce. If the sauce is too thick then add a dash of water to achieve your desired sauce-like consistency.
Roughly chop red onion and mushrooms.
Crush or finely chop garlic and saute in a medium sized pan with onion and mushrooms (with a splash of olive oil) for a couple of minutes to bring out their flavour.
Add the lentils and water to the pan and bring to the boil.
In the meantime add allspice, cinnamon, cardamon, sea salt, coconut sugar and passata to the pan, stirring to mix everything together.
Once the pan has come to the boil turn down to a low/medium heat, placing the lid on. Stir regularly over a period of about 45 minutes or until all water has absorbed and the mixture resembles a thick sauce. If you are busy and want to come back to this later, then simply cook for about 30 minutes, turn off and leave it to finish cooking with the lid on, in its own heat.
Whilst the lentil part is cooking in the pan, cook the pasta, drain it and put to the side.
Slice apple into thin slices and roughly chop parsley. When the lentil part has cooked, add the parsley to the pan and mix in.
Spoon about half of this lentil mixture into an oven proof dish and add a layer of your cooked rice pasta (this should be about ½ of your pasta). Make up another layer on top of the pasta with your apple slices.
Spoon the rest of your lentil mixture on top of your apple layer and then add another layer with the rest of the pasta.
Spoon/pour on your cashew sauce on top of the final layer of pasta. If the cashew sauce seems too thick, then add a little water to loosen it up.
Your layers might resemble something like this:
(base) lentil – pasta – apple – lentil – pasta – cashew sauce (topping)
But remember there is no right or wrong. If your creativity is inspired, then let it flow!
Place your whole dish in the oven at gas mark 6 (200˚C/400˚F) for approximately 40 minutes and then serve hot with veggies or salad.