Yes, I’m going to pass on this vegetarua recipe for people who really love to cook and eat. It is Vegetarian Lasagna, and I'm guessing that most people would say that it probably isn’t worth making. But it is, and I have secrets to share about cooking as we go along.
This Vegetarian Lasagna is built on the proposition that lasagna itself is simple. You simply layer sauce, the characteristic wide lasagna noodles, and cheese until you use them up. Then you cover and bake in the oven until everything is happy, as Emeril Lagasse would say.
The first secret that I’m going to share concerns the ground beef or meat substitute that you’ll be using. I don’t put it in the sauce; what I do is put the ground shreds into a pot with onions and garlic, and cook them together until the flavor of the meat has been improved.
When I make lasagna I don’t combine the meat with the tomato sauce; I layer it in. I’ll discuss that presently. I also avoid shredding the cheese because the whole dish is going to be baked for a couple of hours. I put the cheese layers in by slices, using a food processor to get very thin slices from cold cheese that is as firm as it can be without being frozen.
How do you make tomato sauce? You can start either with canned tomato sauce, or with a little time you can make fresh sauce using a food mill and then season it up. It’s high time we got around to talking about food mills anyway. It is an apparatus that looks like a pot at first. But rather than being a pot meant to hold food, it has a perforated bottom that allows food to pass through it. You force the food through the perforations by using a screw-like blade that travels around in a circle, forcing the food down and into contact with the cutting edge of the perforations.
The genius of a food mill is that, when you apply it to tomatoes, it will separate the skins and seeds from the meat of the tomatoes, which will pass through and become sauce. You then must dispose of the seeds and skins once in awhile to clear the food mill for more tomatoes. This doesn’t take nearly as long as it sounds.
When I use fresh tomatoes, I remove the seeds and the gelatinous substance that they live in before doing anything to them. I learned this from Alton Brown of The Food Network, who always does the same thing. It is quite easy: cut the tomato in half crosswise, and you’ll be able to squeeze most of the seeds out into a bowl or the sink. Your fingers are also useful unless it would spoil your manicure, in which case I suppose you’ll stick to canned tomatoes.
And just in case you are wondering if you absolutely have to cook the tomato sauce, the answer is no. After a couple of hours in a hot oven it will be cooked. But cooking it after seasoning will let you know what it really will taste like, and you might want to bring it to a simmer with its herbs before you start pouring it into the lasagna. When you get the feel of seasoning, the necessity to cook it will go away.
Consider the health potential of finding organic tomatoes in a local Tucson supermarket. You don't even have to make the pilgrimate to a health-food store--I have seen organic and even heirloom tomatoes at every grocery store in Tucson, as well as the health-food markets. We are lucky that Arizona is an agricultural center--try organic heirloom cherry tomatoes in a salad!
You'll find some differences between the heirloom tomatoes and the conventional ones. They may be firmer, or of a different color. The taste potential is enormous, though. Sometimes you feel like you have never tasted a tomato before.
I also use lasagna noodles that do not require cooking beforehand. There are a few brands available now, and of course they are much more manageable because they are like puzzle pieces or something while you layer your lasagna.
You won’t regret the purchase of a large, deep stainless-steel baking dish that has a slide-on cover that can go into the oven. It will save you a lot of money that would otherwise be spent on aluminum foil, which would be required for a tight seal while the lasagna is baking.
Since I have mentioned before that I like the little grinder jars to dispense spices, I’ll point out that I have seen Italian Herb combinations, which are ideal for seasoning that homemade tomato sauce. The only other thing you’ll need will be salt and pepper. If you want to use fresh herbs, don’t leave out sweet basil, oregano, thyme, rosemary, and a bay leaf.
Everything in seasoning should be done to taste as far as I am concerned. You do follow recipes for common-sense reasons—too much ground cloves will change the identity of your Gingerbread Boys, that’s for sure. But don’t hesitate to add something and then taste. If you can’t taste it, add more.
Always make the top layer of your lasagna the tomato sauce. Then, when it is done, you can remove the top and add something lovely to the top, like puffs of whipped ricotta cheese. Just let it brown for a few minutes in the oven, like a meringue.
So here’s the recipe, after all that:
VEGETARIAN LASAGNA
From the kitchen of Margot Fernandez
Recipe notes:
You may make your own spaghetti sauce, by all means. If you do eat dairy products, go right ahead with the mozzarella and ricotta cheeses. If you want to keep it vegetarian you’ll have to find your cheese alternative at a nearby health food store. Most of the ingredients listed below are easy to find in the neighborhood market.
I also use oven-ready lasagna noodles. If you don’t mind boiling them first, you’ll have to take that extra step. Be extremely careful with the large pot of boiling water that you must use.
To make lasagna, which is characterized by the large noodles, you need a lasagna pan or a 9” by 14” baking pan.
Turn your oven to 350 degrees.
List of ingredients:
Pasta sauce: 2 jars or the equivalent, about 24 ounces or 3 to 4 cups
Morning Star Meal Starters, which substitutes for ground beef, 1 package
Vegan Gourmet Cheese Alternative, Monterey jack or mozzarella style, 2 packages
Ricotta-type cheese for last-minute topping, 1 package
Oven-ready lasagna noodles, 2 packages
Put a thin layer of sauce over the bottom of the pan to prevent sticking. Lay the noodles in a single layer, cover with more sauce, and then put down a second layer of noodles. They will be covered with sliced cheese or cheese alternative. Sprinkle the shredded meat, onions and garlic over the cheese and go on to more noodles and sauce,
Continue layering this way with sauce, then cheese/meat until you have at least four layers, ending with tomato sauce. IMPORTANT: lasagna noodles expand when cooking. Don’t fill the pan to the top because it is likely to boil over onto your oven floor.
A different way to handle the ingredients is to jazz up the Morning Star Meal Starters as I explained above, by tossing them in a pan with some garlic and onions until they have thawed out and absorbed the flavors. Then you can sprinkle them on the lasagna noodles rather than mixing them into the sauce. This is one way of dealing with the fact that veggie shreds like this have little flavor compared to real meat.
When I buy organic, all-natural, grain-fed meat in Tucson, I taste the kind of meat that I grew up with. I didn't realize how the flavor of meat had faded with the overprocessing, hormones and the age of the cattle that are used. Arizona has some pretty good steakhouses, but natural meat gives it a run for the money anytime.
Once you have assembled the entire combination, most of the work is over. You bake it in the 350-degree oven according to the directions for the noodles. If you have boiled your own, you’ll need at least two hours to melt and blend all the flavors. Don’t forget to put the little pillows or ribbons of whipped ricotta or ricotta-like cheese on top and brown it lightly when it comes out of the oven.
If you think that the whole dish looks kind of dry--which could be caused by the noodles soaking up a lot of water from the tomato sauce--I suggest that you add some beef broth, a little at a time around the edges, until it begins to look juicy (you aren't shooting for soup here, so be a minimalist). Don't attempt to stir or break up the noodles or anything; just add some broth and give it 20 more minutes or so.
Try this dish on your friends and they won’t believe that it is vegetarian, I promise. But it will be worth it for everyone. You’ll find how easy it is to cook without meat, and the lucky dinner guests will learn that lasagna doesn’t have to be heavy and caloric. Good deal.
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