Goodness, gracious me this is delicious! Considering I’m not really a pasta person, this is rather exciting. I found great delight in creating a deliciously healthy, gluten-free vegan alternative to the traditional Italian lasagne. So here we go.
Lasagne refers to the flat pasta sheets. It is thought that these sheets are one of the oldest forms of pasta. Lasagne is also the name of the well-loved, stacked casserole dish formed of layers of sauce, pasta sheets, cheese and often vegetables.
I have created a video here in my home kitchen, to take you through the process step-by-step. It’s pretty easy when you see it done…
So what am I using for this Gluten-free Vegan Lasagne?
I’ve gone for organic green lentil pasta sheets with my recipe here, but please do use your own favourite (spelt and wheat lasagne sheets will also work, of course). You do not generally need to need to pre-cook the pasta sheets as the moisture in the sauce will soak into the pasta, softening them and cooking them nicely during the baking process.
The main sauce is made using puy lentils (also called French lentils or dark speckled lentils). Puy simply refers to the region in France in which they were originally grown. The reason I love to use puy lentils in this recipe is that their texture holds up remarkably well upon cooking (whereas other lentils might disintegrate and turn into mush). Puy lentils also have a slightly nuttier, earthy taste compared to other lentils.
A little gluten-free vegan lasagne je ne said quois
A few simple ingredients are used for this combination. We are talking “passata” – a traditional Italian tomato sauce made simply with strained tomatoes (referred to as strained or sieved tomatoes in North America). This should be available in any good health food shop or supermarket. Passata can be swapped for blended-down, canned tomatoes for a similar outcome.
The sauce benefits from a wonderful infusion of mushrooms, along with onion and garlic. Then there is ground coriander, cinnamon, tamari, pepper and garlic powder. My-oh-my does that combination ever work at treat!
I like to add parsley and a couple of generous layers of baby spinach in there to make it just right.
The most delectable vegan cashew lasagne sauce – ever!
The cashew sauce is made whilst the lentil/passata sauce is cooking in the pot. There are lots of different ways to make a cashew sauce. This particular blend partners perfectly here. Made with cashews, flaxseed and lemon, it is blended until smooth and then gently heated for a couple of minutes to thicken.
The sauce then forms the top layer of the lasagne, creating a thin, tanned crust with a decadent creamy sauce to dance and infuse with the whole dish.
Feel-good food at it’s finest. Be sure to check out my video above for a very helpful and fun step by step guide on how to make this and let me know how you get on.
Gluten-free Vegan Lentil Lasagne with Creamy Cashew Sauce
A delicious gluten-free, vegan lasagne made with a puy (French) lentil base, gluten-free pasta sheets and a divine cashew cream topping.
Ingredients
Sauce
- 200g brown mushrooms
- 1 medium sized onion
- 1 large clove of garlic
- Dash of olive oil
- 150g (¾ cup) puy lentils (french lentils)
- 500ml (2 cups) passata
- 350ml (1½ cups) water
- 2 tablespoons GF tamari
- 1 tablespoon ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- Big twist of black pepper
- Big handful fresh parsley
Extra Layers
- 6 gluten-free pasta sheets (depending on size)
- Four handfuls of baby spinach
Cashew Cream Topping
- 75g (½ cup) cashew nuts
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 3 tablespoons ground flaxseed
- 1 tablespoon gluten-free plain flour (a blend or tapioca, corn starch or flour will all work)
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- 250ml water
- 2 small lemons
Instructions
Please see my video above for a quick tutorial on how to make these.
*Soak cashews in advance for at least an hour (or overnight) if you remember*
- Chop the mushrooms into small pieces.
- Slice the onion and crush the garlic.
- Saute the onions, mushrooms and garlic in the olive oil in a large pan for two or three minutes.
- Add all other sauce ingredients (except the parsley). Bring to the boil and then allow to simmer for about 40 minutes, stirring occasionally and placing a lid on the pan. This will be enough time to thoroughly cook the lentils.
- In the meantime make the cashew sauce.
- Drain the cashews.
- Juice the lemon.
- Put cashews, sea salt, ground flaxseeds, flour, garlic powder, water and lemon juice into a blender and then blend until smooth.
- Put the cashew cream (which is probably a thin cream at this stage) into a saucepan. Turn on the heat and gently heat through. Keep stirring very regularly. If you don't stir it will go lumpy! This should only take a couple of minutes. As it heats it will turn into a wonderful sauce.
- When the lentil sauce is ready, chop and mix in the parsley.
- Get an oven dish somewhere around 14cm x 20cm (5½ x 8 inches) in size and preheat your oven to gas mark 6 (200C/400F). Then layer the lasagne in the dish as follows...
- Lentil sauce layer
- Spinach layer
- Lentil sauce layer
- Pasta layer
- Lentil sauce layer
- Spinach layer
- Lentil sauce layer
- Pasta layer
- Cashew cream sauce layer
Bake it...
- Pop it into the oven and bake for around 30 minutes until baked through and tanned on top.
- Serve immediately hot (also serves nicely cold, keeping for a few days in the fridge).
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Enjoying your resapies. Cannot wait for more.. thankyou.
Love, love, love!
We loved this lasagna recipie.
A delicious meal to cheer up a cold night.
I only had split red lentils so used se these instead of the ones in the recipie, but it was still perfect. Thank you for the recipe!
Awesome! I have never tried with red lentils… that’s so good to know.
Gorgeous. I can’t get those lovely lasagne sheets so I use sliced courgette or even do it with spiralused.
That’s a great idea… I am a fan of courgette used in those ways too 🙂