I love this recipe because you don’t really need to follow the recipe! You can use any veggie that will hold up to being cut in slices and roasted, any kind of sauce you like, and any kind of cheese (including vegan cheese) you like. It’s easy to make and it’s a great way to get even picky eaters to eat more veggies. This lasagna can be served as a main course (about 4 servings) with a side salad, or it can be served as a veggie side (about 8 servings).
You Will Need:
- An assortment of veggies that you like and where most would lend themselves to being sliced and roasted! This time, I used portobello mushroom, onion, eggplant, zucchini, and orange bell pepper.
- A pasta sauce, either home made or ready-made. This time, it was a 700ml store bought sauce.
- 1/2 cup or so of grated cheese (not pictured above) – grated mozzarella and Parmesan would be a good combo. You can also use vegan cheese (which we did this time as one of our guests was vegan).
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
- Any other herbs you’d like to add
Step 1: Slice and Season the Veggies
- Cut up veggies into 1/4 inch slices. This job is best done with a mandolin. My favourite one is the Ricardo Handheld Mandolin. It’s super easy to use and clean (dishwasher safe).
- Drizzle veggies with olive oil (about 2 TBSP – just enough to lightly coat them) and season with salt and pepper. You could also add a sprinkle of dried oregano or an Italian dried herb blend if you have any on hand.
- Toss the veggies together until they are all evenly coated with the oil and seasoning.
Step 2: Roast/Cook Veggies
- Using the Roast setting, pre-heat oven to 375F.
- Line 2 or 3 baking sheets with parchment paper, then spread the veggies over them. It’s OK if the veggies overlap a bit (they will shrink quite a bit as they roast), but you don’t want them in layers as they won’t roast very nicely. You may have to do several batches.
- Roast for 20 minutes, flipping the vegetables halfway through. Don’t worry if some of them fall apart – just do as best you can to flip them all over and spread them out again halfway through the cooking time.
- As batches of roasted veggies are done, put them into a big glass bowl or baking dish. When you’ve roasted all the veggies, you’ll have something that looks like this:
While the veggies were roasting, I steamed my spinach, just until it got wilted. You don’t have to add spinach – I just had a ton of it from my garden, so thought this would be a good way to use it! Once it was steamed, I cooled it off and squeezed it to remove the excess water (nothing worse than a watery lasagna!).
Step 3: Assemble
Time to start assembling your lasagna! I started with a layer of sauce, then a layer of veggies, then another layer of sauce, then some cheese, then some spinach, then another layer of veggies, then sauce, then cheese, then …. you get the picture! Just layer away! Once all layering is done, finish the top off with some sauce and a generous sprinkle of cheese.
I used a 7″ x 11″ Pyrex baking dish. Eyeball the amount of roasted/cooked veggies you have to pick the right sized baking dish. Below are some photos of my layering … as well as a picture of the brand of vegan cheese I used (my daughter has tried so many and this is her favourite)!
Step 4: Heat and Serve
Place the assembled lasagna in a 350F oven and bake until warmed through and the cheese is melted (about 15-20 minutes). You can broil it for a few minutes to get the cheese bubbly and golden. Results vary with vegan cheese as you can see from the above photo – left side is vegan cheese, right side is mozzerella and parmesan.