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Prep Time: 25 Minutes Cook Time: 25 Minutes |
Ready In: 50 Minutes Servings: 4 |
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If you're dating a vegan and you're a bacon-lover, you know what a pain in the keister making something romantic and delicious for them can be. This recipe actually tastes good to people who like food for food's sake; even Tony Bourdain would eat it and like it. I made it up, because periodically I throw down on the vegan challenge just for fun (vegan challenge: can you make something both delicious and vegan, with no weird processed vegan foods in it ). If it was summer, I'd use fresh tomatoes and make a tomato lasagne. Since this was made in the winter, it's made with seasonal veggies - spinach, eggplant, mushrooms etc. Ingredients:
2 1/2 lbs raw spinach |
1/2 head fresh garlic |
2 cups walnuts (optional) |
olive oil |
2 italian eggplants, cubed into 1cm squares |
salt |
20 green olives, pitted |
3 tablespoons sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil |
2 tablespoons tomato paste |
1/4 cup olive oil |
1 1/2 onions, chopped |
1 1/2 lbs dark mushrooms, like shitake mushrooms or 1 1/2 lbs portabella mushrooms |
4 garlic cloves, sliced |
olive oil |
2 lbs no-boil lasagna noodles |
1/2 lb sharp cheddar cheese (optional, for non-vegans) or 1/2 lb gorgonzola (optional, for non-vegans) |
Directions:
1. Make the Eggplant Tapenade: cube and salt the eggplants. Pit the olives, and chuck them, the sun dried tomatoes, tomato paste and olive oil into the blender. When the eggplant is a little soft, toss it with the blended mixture and the chopped onions.
2. Make spinach pesto: wilt the spinach by dumping a kettle of boiling water over it. Use a strainer, and squeeze out all the excess green water. Dump the spinach, garlic, walnuts and a splash of olive oil into the blender and blend.
3. Make the mushroom layer: chop up the mushrooms, and the garlic. Sautee the mushrooms and garlic together until the mushrooms are just softened.
4. Assemble the lasagne: using lidded pyrex dishes (works better than tinfoil, over the top, but use what you got), put a layer of spinach pesto on the bottom, then put a layer of lasagne noodles, then a layer of the eggplant, then a layer of lasagne noodles in the opposite orientation of the last layer, then a layer of mushrooms, then a layer of lasagne noodles in the opposite orientation of the last layer, then a layer of eggplant, then a layer of lasagne noodles in the opposite orientation of the last layer, top with a layer of spinach pesto. Top with cheese if your partner is just a vegetarian, or pretend its tofu when they ask.
5. Should fill 3 12 square pyrex dishes. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes. Freeze leftovers trays whole in case you need some last minute food for a party later.
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