Hazelnut & Tofu 'Ricotta' Lasagne
Layers upon layers of pure vegan joy...
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| Impress the fam by cooking up this delicious chunk of hazelnut heaven! |
Maybe it was just where I went to school. Perhaps our cantine ladies didn't have as much spruce and culinary creativity as the others...but I always HATED lasagne day.
A few layers of sad, floppy, dull pasta sandwiching a boring mix of mince and tomatoes was an option that I dreaded on a weekly basis.
So here's a lasagne recipe with a makeover...
A creamy almond milk based sauce, toasted hazelnuts and heaps of basil made this one of my proudest achievements in the kitchen as of yet; so don your dinner lady hat & get on it!
Ingredients...
A few layers of sad, floppy, dull pasta sandwiching a boring mix of mince and tomatoes was an option that I dreaded on a weekly basis.
So here's a lasagne recipe with a makeover...
A creamy almond milk based sauce, toasted hazelnuts and heaps of basil made this one of my proudest achievements in the kitchen as of yet; so don your dinner lady hat & get on it!
Ingredients...
Lasagne sheets
Fresh basil
1 cup chopped hazelnuts
1 jar homemade/shop bought ragu sauce
1 onion
Broccoli
1 large garlic clove (chopped)
Your favourite vegan cheese...
Tofu Ricotta:
1 box of extra firm tofu (pressed + crumbled)
1 1/2 tblesp tahini
3/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tblsp lemon juice
1 1/2 tblesp miso paste
1 tblesp garlic granules
Béchamel sauce:
500ml unsweetened almond milk
Cornflour
Nutritional yeast
1. Preheat oven to 180°c. Mush your tofu ricotta ingredients together with a spoon & set aside.
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| Looks awful, tastes amazing |
2. Chop broccoli + onion, fry + caramelise with sugar + garlic. Add most of the hazelnuts a few minutes before you turn off the heat to get them good & TOASTY.
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3. Heat milk in saucepan, add 1/2 cup of nutritional yeast. Thicken to desired consistency using cornflour. (METHOD: Put cornflour in cup. Add a splash of lukewarm water. Mix vigorously till dissolved. Pour cornflour mix into very hot milk and stir milk quickly till thickened.)
4. Add salt, black pepper + more nutritional yeast depending on the preference of your taste-buds. Chop a large handful of basil and mix into the 'béchamel' sauce.
5. Layer the broccoli-onion-hazelnut mix into a dish of your choosing, followed by a layer of lasagne sheets. POUR ON COPIOUS AMOUNTS OF WHITE SAUCE.
6. Next in is all of your tofu ricotta. APPLY MORE WHITE SAUCE. Add your next layer of lasagne sheets.
7. Pour on the necessary amount of ragu. Top it off with white sauce. TADA.
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| Lasagne making is messy business |
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| But just look at all those beautiful LAYERS |
8. Shove in the oven for 40-50 minutes. In the last 10 mins of cooking, add grated vegan cheese to the top + sprinkle with the rest of the chopped hazelnuts.
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| It should end up looking like THIS. |
SERVE WITH A SPRITELY SALAD.
LASAGNE WILL NEVER BE BORING AGAIN.
