I found gold today at the back of the garden, next to the chicken coop, under a neglected grapefruit tree. Gardener’s gold in the form of well-rotted chicken and geese poo, mixed with lots and lots of hay, garden scraps, the odd bit of newspaper and grass clippings. Sitting there for months and months after the chicken house was cleaned and decomposing with abundant nutrients and goodness. It is not composted, but it is perfect for mulch for the vegetable garden. I managed four heaped wheelbarrows and spread this gold over at least three triangles of my garden. This will keep the weeds at bay and then be dug back into the soil for the next lot of vegetables. I could feel the vibrations of all the recently planted little summer seedlings saying, “Thank you, thank you.” Tiny and green and full of hope, adventure and abundance – promises of good things to come.
The tomato sauce is one I use for a pizza base and pasta sauce and is perfect for this lasagna. In Summer, I use fresh tomatoes from the garden, and basil leaves when they are obscenely abundant. I ensure this sauce has long, slow cooking to give it a depth of flavour and richness in texture. Serve with a crisp, fresh green leaf salad from the garden.
This is quite a decadent lasagna, or at least for me, but it is so delicious. We spoil ourselves each month with it. The chopped walnuts on top give the lasagna a more robust taste.
lasagna with a creamy vegan pesto sauce
serves 4 – 5
ingredients
1 packet lasagna sheets (four layers in a 13 x 8-inch deep baking dish) or make your own using 320g durum wheat at #5
1 large/430g eggplant
½ cup roughly chopped walnut and pine nut parmesan
tomato sauce
¼ cup olive oil
4 sprigs fresh oregano
4 sprigs fresh thyme
2 x 10cm twigs fresh rosemary
¼ tsp chilli flakes
1 fresh bay leaf
1 large/220g fennel bulb, cut into thick rounds
2 medium/130g carrots, chopped
1 medium/100g red bell pepper
1 x 140g tube tomato paste
1kg ripe cherry tomatoes
1 heaped tsp fine rock salt
1 heaped tsp sugar
creamy pesto sauce
(avoiding cashews? See below for a vegan white sauce alternative)
2 – 4 big bunches basil (110g basil leaves, stems removed)
1 cup/135g raw cashew nuts – soaked in hot water for half an hour
1 cup nut milk
¼ tsp freshly ground pepper
pinch fine rock salt
prepare the tomato sauce
- Wash the cherry tomatoes and leave them whole; chop the fennel into thick rounds, chop the carrot and red pepper (I like to keep the vegetables quite chunky, especially the fennel) – set aside.
- In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, drizzle in the oil, add the fennel, and fry until it starts to soften; add oregano, rosemary, thyme, bay leaf, and chilli flakes, fry for 1 minute, then stir in the vegetables and tomato paste—simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add whole cherry tomatoes, cover and simmer gently for 1-2 hours, stirring occasionally. Turn off the heat, remove the bay leaf, rosemary, oregano and thyme stalks, and add sugar and salt. Set aside.
prepare the eggplant
- Cut the eggplant into ¼ inch slices. Oil a large skillet and add the eggplant slices in a single layer. In batches, saute the eggplant on both sides until completely soft, tender, and caramelized. Repeat with remaining eggplant, adding oil between batches, until done.
prepare the pesto
- Drain the cashews and add them to the blender with the nut milk. Blend until creamy; add basil leaves, salt, and pepper, and blend again until well incorporated. You want the sauce quite thick. Set aside.
assemble
- Ladle 1 cup of tomato sauce into the bottom of a baking dish, followed by a layer of lasagna sheets. Add another layer of tomato sauce, then half of the pesto cream, a layer of eggplant, another lasagna sheet, and another layer of tomato sauce. Add another layer of lasagna sheets and pour the remaining tomato sauce on top, followed by a layer of eggplant, another lasagna sheet, and the remaining pesto cream. Finally, sprinkle with walnuts.
bake
- Preheat the oven to 190C/350F. Cover the lasagna with foil, bake for 30 minutes, then remove the foil, and bake for another 10 – 15 minutes. Remove a sprinkle with pine nut parmesan (or a light sprinkle of nutritional yeast) and fresh basil leaves.
Serve with your favourite green salad.
white sauce variation
ingredients
750ml oat milk or whole milk
4 fresh bay leaves
1 stick celery
8 black peppercorns
60g vegan block butter or regular butter
60g plain flour
50 g nutritional yeast or 100g grated parmesan cheese
rock salt and freshly ground pepper
preparation
to be continued…
Goodness shared from Stacey
