Vegan spinach lasagne

• servings: 12 servings
• active time: 1 hour
• total time: 1 hour 40 minutes

Ingredients

1 kg / 35 oz frozen spinach*, defrosted

30-60 ml / 2-4 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, finely diced

1 leek (or small onion), finely diced

6 garlic cloves, finely diced

200 g / 1½ cup sunflower seeds* (or cashews), soaked

400 g / 14 oz firm unpressed tofu

25 g / ½ cup nutritional yeast

120 ml / ½ cup lemon juice + zest of 2 lemons

30 g / 2 tbsp white miso paste

10 g / 1 tbsp chopped dill

20 g / 2 tbsp chopped parsley

½ tsp ground nutmeg

360 ml / 1½ cup soy (or other plant) milk

¾ tsp black pepper, adjust to taste

1¼-½ tsp fine salt, adjust to taste

500 g / 17.5 oz no cook vegan lasagne sheets*

5 g / 1 tsp white miso paste

780 ml / 3¼ cups plant milk (I used Oatly barista)

80 ml / 1/3 cup mild olive oil (or 100 g / 3½ oz vegan butter)

80 g / scant 2/3 cup AP flour (or GF flour mix)

3 tbsp nutritional yeast

½ tsp garlic powder (optional)

salt to taste

¼ tsp pepper, adjust to taste

freshly grated nutmeg, to taste (or scant ¼ tsp ground)

Directions

Heat up olive oil (use 2 tbsp for a less indulgent version) in a large frying pan, add diced onion and sautée on low-medium heat until softened. Add chopped leek and garlic. Continue sautéing until softened.

Place drained sunflower seeds, unpressed tofu, miso, nutritional yeast, lemon zest, nutmeg, some salt and pepper in a food processor. Process while trickling in plant milk until the mixture resembles ricotta cheese.

Add sunflower tofu mixture, squeezed out spinach and herbs to the pan with sautéed aromatics. Stir well to combine, add lemon juice (you can adjust the amount to taste) and the rest of the plant milk and adjust seasoning to taste. The mixture will be quite loose/wet when you are done.

Warm plant milk up in a small saucepan. Place miso in a small bowl and add a couple of tablespoons of milk from the saucepan, stir until it dissolves, set aside.

Slowly heat up olive oil in a large saucepan (stainless steal works best for this). Once the oil starts to shimmer, sprinkle in flour while whisking the whole tine.

Allow the fat-flour mixture (known as roux) to bubble gently on low-medium heat for a minute, whisking the whole time. Don't let it brown.

Take the pot off the heat and slowly pour in warmed plant milk while whisking the whole time. Initially the mixture may look a bit lumpy - don't worry, it will recover once all the milk has been whisked in. Once the mixture looks stable and smooth, whisk in miso and nutritional yeast and garlic powder (if using).

Return the pot to the stove. Simmer briefly (while whisking) until the sauce thickens to a consistency of cream. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste.

Preheat the oven to 180° C / 390° F (or 160° C / 320° F with fan).

Put ½ cup of bechamel sauce and ½ cup spinach sauce at the bottom of your baking dish. Follow this up with a layer of lasagne sheets.

Spread 1½ cups of spinach sauce on top and cover it up with another layer of pasta. Repeat the same two layers two more times.

Finally spread the remainder of the spinach sauce on top of the last pasta layer followed by all of the bechamel sauce. Spread it evenly with a spatula.

Cover the dish with a piece of kitchen foil and bake for 30 minutes.

Increase the oven temperature to 220° C / 430° F, uncover the dish and bake for another last 10-15 minutes until the top is golden brown.

Allow the dish to set for at least an hour or else the slices will come out messy. Store the leftovers for up to 5 days in the fridge or freeze in air-tight containers.

Nutrition

• Calories: 446.84
• Total Fat: 21.27 g
• Saturated Fat: 2.3 g
• Unsaturated Fat: 18.97 g
• Trans Fat: 0 g
• Cholesterol: 0 mg
• Sodium: 568.12 mg
• Total Carbohydrate: 49.12 g
• Dietary Fiber: 7.54 g
• Total Sugars: 8.39 g
• Protein: 19.65 g