I came up with this recipe about two years ago, but when I say I came up with the 'recipe', I mean I winged it, it worked, and then I have winged it a few more times since, but could never have told anyone how I did it. So for my Autumn Cleanse in 2021, in order to share it with those who took part, I wrote it down as I did it. 

It is delicious - at least according to anyone I have every made it for. I hope you think so too.

Serves a family of four for two meals

Ingredients for the vegetable bolognese sauce:

• 2 tbs Italian seasoning (O)

• 1 tbs garlic powder

• 2-3 large leeks (O)

• 3 celery stalks (O)

• 5-6 large carrots (O)

• 1 x 680g bottle of passata (O) - I use this one

• 1/3 of the empty passata bottle of filtered water

• 1 tbs tomato puree (O)

• 2 cans of lentils (any type you like) (O)

• 1 cube (or equivalent) of vegetable stock (O)

• 1 tbs coconut sugar (not essential)

• Seasoning to taste

• Extra virgin olive oil to cook

Ingredients for 'cheese' sauce:

• 300g plain tofu (O) - I use this as it is fermented, again I don't buy it from Ocado, but just wanted to show you the brand, but any plain tofu will do

• 225g dairy free cream cheese - I use this one - it is delicious on crackers too

• Plant milk of choice (I measure it by doing 1 and a half amounts of the cream cheese container, as if it was a measuring cup)

• 3 tbs nutritional yeast (this stuff is SO good - I will give you a recipe to make a cheesy 'parmesan style' topping for pasta with it too)

• Sea salt to taste

Construction ingredients:

• Hulled hemp seeds, pumpkin seeds OR sunflower seeds + extra nutritional yeast for the topping (see recipe here)

• Lentil Lasagna Sheets - I buy these but any gluten free lasagna sheet will do, or your preferred lasagna sheet (any upgrade is good) 

Method:

1. Chop the leeks, celery and carrots into small pieces, and fry in a little extra virgin olive oil, in a large pan, until softened.

2. Add in the garlic powder, and cook through a little, then add the rest of the bolognese ingredients and cook through (it won't take a lot of cooking, but you want everything to be reasonably soft.

3. Let it cool a little and then pulse in food processor, or use a hand held blender to get it mushy - you can choose what consistency you make it, but I like it quite mushy, with some bits in it for texture.

4. As it is cooling you can make the 'cheese' sauce by blending all of the ingredients in a blender until very smooth.

5. Preheat your oven to 200C.

6. Then you can get layering. Take a very large ovenproof dish and do a layer of the bolognese, followed by a layer of the lasagna sheets, and then a layer of the 'cheese' sauce. Then repeat. In my dish I can do the first layer of each, and then one more.

7. Top with the hempesan (see recipe above) if you are using it, or with the grated 'cheese' of your choice.

8. Put in the oven and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the pasta has cooked through + the topping has become crispy.

9. Serve with organic frozen peas (for me they are a MUST with lasagna) and a leafy green salad, with extra virgin olive oil + balsamic vinegar.

Tag me @rochelle.a.hubbard on Instagram if you make this! I would love to know what you think. You can also join me on Telegram here.