Vegetarian Lasagna Recipe with Italian-Style and Alternative Cheese
Vegetarian lasagna recipe is not a secret anymore since there are many common modifications about this recipe so far all over the world. Almost every region has its own lasagna recipe. Otherwise, we start losing the original lasagna recipe instead. The Italy recipes, the lasagna is offered as the first course. Meanwhile, lasagna is served alongside with pesto in Liguria. These examples imply that lasagna can be modified with anything. Another example in this article, we will show you the vegetarian version of lasagna. Actually, vegetarian lasagna is already mentioned in the recipes by those regions. But, they keep them with others so that we do not taste it as full vegetarian. Here are the some tips that you need to know before making it at your home.
Vegetables
Of course, vegetarian lasagna recipe has its own vegetables. In other words, not all vegetables are appropriate with the lasagna recipes. For instance, the British vegetarian lasagna uses a combination between peppers with mushrooms. However, all vegetables are okay as the main ingredients since you treat them right in the lasagna bake. Thus, roasting the vegetables firstly will work well for your lasagna in the end. Lastly, adding some peppers can increase the taste of your lasagna. After you roasted them, chop them and make them as the main ingredients.
Sauces
Another important thing for a vegetarian lasagna recipe is the sauces. For your information, Italian lasagna won’t sit quickly on the plate when you add sauce on it. Instead, it will stay and hold its shape as long as possible than we thought before. The mixture of cheese and ricotta is a good example because it brings fresher look for your lasagna. If you love to see creamy lasagna, you should rely on the meat sauces. However, the look is not as fresh as the first example. Overall, the sauces have the same importance as the vegetables to make vegetarian lasagna.
Cheese
Parmesan and mozzarella is the recommended one for your vegetarian lasagna recipe. But, we prefer to use ricotta instead. For your information, ricotta is an Italian cheese which derives from livestock’s milk. This cheese is a whey cheese too that provides much protein and good taste for our cooks. However, you can choose parmesan or mozzarella as the alternative. For your information, there are many ways to make homemade ricotta. Unfortunately, we cannot show them all in this very short article by the way. Using ricotta will make your vegetarian lasagna become the Italian-style which is also more original.
Pasta
This is the most important thing that you need to decide and choose while making vegetarian lasagna recipe. When you need more texture on your lasagna, baked pasta like lasagna is not preferred for your tongue. For your information, good lasagna should have retained its chew slightly. It is not dominant by the way. The most important one is about its freshness and dried. Without both characteristics of pasta, we are sure your lasagna is not lasagna after all. Of course, you do not want your lasagna falling apart on your fork, do you? If so, please purchase raw and fresh pasta sheets on the store firstly.
Ingredients
These ingredients of vegetarian lasagna recipe are served for six portions.
Eggplants or aubergines 3
Red Peppers 2
Pine nuts 50 gram
Olive oil 2 tablespoons
Garlic cloves 2 (crushed)
Chopped tomatoes 600 gram
Balsamic vinegar a slug
Ricotta 500 gram
Parmesan 75 gram
Dried Lasagna 12 sheets
Basil small bunch
How to Make
It is time to make the vegetarian lasagna recipe. We will elaborate the steps one by one in order to give better understanding for you as our reader.
- Prepare and heat your oven over 200 degree Celcius. In the same time, you can prick the eggplant and the peppers on the baking tray. Make sure you have greased it for forty minutes. Once they have collapsed by themselves, add the pine nuts right inside your oven. Toast them all for five minutes.
- After everything has done, poke the flesh of the eggplant with your spoon. Mash them all into large pieces in the end. Skin up the peppers and make sure they do not have seeds anymore. Chop the flesh from the peppers too and combine them with the eggplant.
- Prepare your frying pan and then heat the olive oil. Then, you can sauté the garlic within it finely. Add your eggplant and the pepper mixture on the frying pan. Wait for about ten minutes and do not forget to stir them frequently. After all, you will have a thick pulp. Then, add your tomatoes with the balsamic vinegar at once. Simmer them all in boiler water. At last but not least, seasoning makes it perfect.
- Toasted pine nuts that you have done before should be mixed with the ricotta or parmesan. Blanch the pasta and the salted water before. Assembling the lasagna is by spreading the eggplant mixture inside of the oven. Lastly, fill your vegetarian lasagna recipe with basil leaves.