The best Vegetable Lasagne in the world... (Vegetarian)

Member Name: indychick_uk

Product:	Vegetarian
Date:	19/12/01 (44146 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fairly quick & easy, Can be made ahead and frozen then reheated

Disadvantages: Take care when reheating as pasta can go chewy

I've been a vegetarian for about 15 years now and in that time I've eaten a lot of Vegetable Lasagne. Things are better these days, but when I first became vegetarian going out for a meal meant having no choice of what I ate.
Most pubs/restaurants would look at you strangely when you asked if they had a vegetarian option and then say "We can do you an omelette". if you were really lucky you'd find an enlightened proprietor who did offer a vegetarian option. But that was it, one dish, take it or leave it - and 9 times out of 10 the vegetarian option would be vegetarian lasagne. When it arrived it was invariably in a one person sized oval crockery dish and had quite clearly been taken from the freezer and put in the microwave.
However, I quite like lasagne and cooked it myself fairly regularly when I was at University. This was partly because the ingredients were cheap, I could cook it in a large quantity and freeze it and reheat it, and I could use whatever I happened to have in the cupboard to "pad it out" (baked beans are great in vegetable lasagne)
Another major consideration was that there are two things I can cook perfectly, every time, without consulting a recipe or thinking about it very much and they are Ratatouille and Cheese Sauce. My entire diet at Uni consisted of dishes based on one or other of these and the piece de resistance was Vegetable Lasagne which combined the two.
One of my friends at Uni used to invite himself round to tea if he knew I was making lasagne and I still use this as standby if I have dinner guests at short notice.
So here's my foolproof recipe - Enjoy!


Vegetable Lasagne

Ingredients -

1 medium aubergine
3 medium courgettes
1 onion
1 tin tomatoes
1 clove garlic (crushed) or 1 tsp garlic puree
2 tbsps olive oil
mushrooms
lasagne pasta
2 oz butter/margarine
2 oz plain flour
1 pint milk
3-4 oz cheddar – grated
2tsps pesto sauce or 1
tsp dried basil
1tsp dried oregano
1tbsp tomato puree

1 Preheat oven to 180
2 Dice the aubergine, place in a colander & sprinkle well with salt. Leave to drain for 20-30 minutes and blot on kitchen paper before adding to rest of ingredients. (this stops the aubergine tasting bitter as it sometimes can)
3 Heat the oil in a large pan. Chop the onion and fry in the oil with the garlic until soft.
4 Slice courgette and add to the onions along with the drained aubergine. Fry until the courgette & aubergine is golden.
5 Slice the mushrooms add to the pan and continue to fry for a further 2-3 minutes.
6 Add the tinned tomatoes, pesto/basil, oregano & tomato puree. Reduce the heat and continue to simmer whilst you make the cheese sauce.
7 Melt the butter in a pan. Add the flour a little at a time, mixing well after each addition, until the mixture binds together. Continue stirring and cook for 2-3 minutes.
8 Remove from the heat and add the milk a little at a time mixing well to ensure no lumps are formed. When all the milk has been added return to a low heat and bring to the boil gradually, stirring continuously, until the sauce has thickened.
9 Remove the pan from the heat and add the cheese mixing well.
10 Layer the vegetables, pasta and cheese sauce in a large ovenproof dish and place in the oven for 20-30 minutes.
11 Serve with salad and/or garlic bread and enjoy!

Summary: