Recipe: Three cheese vegetarian lasagna

This recipe is my attempt at recreating the most amazing lasagna with mornay sauce that we had in Paris.



A note about ingredients: Although my version is vegetarian, you can of course easily convert it into a traditional meat-eater's lasagna. I use Quorn soy crumbles, mock hamburger. I don't like a lot of pretend meat but this one has a pretty good texture and it adds some thickness to the sauce. If you're going to try the veggie meat, do not get the Morning Star grounds. It's chewy and terrible imo. Look for the Quorn brand, yellow package.

The Gruyere cheese you use is going to make or break the lasagna. Well, it will be good no matter what but it will be amazing with the right cheese. I look for a softer gruyere. The hard gruyere is sharper, more swiss-y and grainy. We want a milder and smooth cheese. Some of the softer gruyeres are too mild though. Here is a pic of my favorite brand, available at my local Fred meyer.

Another note: You'll have some left over marinara and cheese sauce with this recipe. I haven't bothered to tinker with it but if you are a stickler for waste and enjoy math, you can probably cut 1/4 to even 1/3 of the ingredients out of the sauces and have just enough.

I won't lie to you, this recipe takes awhile. You can cut down on the time by using a jarred sauce but you might find it a little watery. The good news is, once I make this I don't make dinner again the next 2 nights. Plenty of leftovers.

Three cheese vegetarian lasagna

Ingredients:

12 dried lasagna noodles

10 oz mozzarella, grated

1/4 cup or so of parmesan, grated

Marinara:

2 28oz cans of crushed tomatoes (the large cans)

1 cup diced onion

3/4 cup diced green pepper

garlic

1 cup frozen peas

Quorn frozen meatless grounds, about 3/4 of the package

All spices dried or fresh and to taste

basil

oregano

rosemary

thyme

onion powder

garlic power

salt

pepper

sugar

Cheese sauce

8 oz gruyere, grated

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1/4 cup flour

2 cups milk

Boil 12 lasagna noodles in a large pot. When al denta, empty into a colander and rinse with cold water. Leave to sit in the sink. Put your big pot back on the heat, add olive oil. Saute onions, green peppers, and "hamburger". When hamburger is cooked through, add both cans of crushed tomatoes, all seasonings, and peas (or whatever veggie you like, olive, sauted mushroom, etc). Cover half way and simmer on low on the back burner while you prepare the cheese sauce.

Pre-heat your oven to 350

Note about cheese sauce: Whisk it continually to prevent lumps and scalding. It is very useful to have a helper here. My dd is in charge of whisking. You'll keep the heat down and no boiling, so the sauce should never splatter your helper.

Melt butter in a sauce pot over medium low heat, add flour and whisk continually for 2-3 minutes. Add milk, slowly at first, still whisking. Turn heat up to medium, whisk until completely smooth, you don't want any flour lumps.

You want to warm the milk up until it will melt the cheese but do not let it boil. When you see a bit of steam rising from the pot, start adding your gruyere a small handful at a time. Whisk! If your cheese is melting very quickly and you see bubbles forming along the edge of your pot, turn the heat down.

After all gruyere is added, season with pepper. If your cheese is a bit bland, add a little salt. Continue cooking over medium until sauce thickens to coat a spoon. You do not want it watery but it will continue to thicken once you take if off the heat. Taste the sauce and make sure there is no floury taste left in it. If there is, keep cooking and whisking.

Take your cheese sauce off the heat and get all your ingredients with in reach.

In a large, 13x9", glass baking dish add about 2/3 cup of marinara to cover the bottom of the dish

Then layer:

3 noodles

2/3 cup cheese sauce

2/3 cup marinara

sprinkling of mozzarella

layer again, and a third layer

On top of the 3rd layer skip the cheese sauce. Add the marinara, mozzarella, and parmesan.

Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.

Remove foil and switch to broil for 3-4 minutes to brown the cheese

Let the lasagna cool for 15-20 minutes before cutting