Home-baked vegetarian lasagna

Crime scene: The eatshopblogger's kitchen

Food in question: vegetarian lasagna

The impulse to cook sent me away to the supermart to pick up ingredients for a vegetarian lasagna. While many prefer theirs with a huge serving of mince, I decided to go meatless to get those carnivores at home to put some garden produce into their diet. Shall share this lovely recipe here(Serves 6 as a side, 4 as a main).

Ingredients:

1 bottle Pasta sauce of your choice (I chose to use Prego’s original pasta sauce in a 250g bottle)

8 slices Lasagna noodles (I used the ones from San Remo)

5 Large button mushrooms

1 Small brinjal (Some people call it eggplant)

1 Zucchini

1 Medium sweet onion

5 Baby potatoes (optional)

3 Garlic cloves

4 tablespoons olive oil

250g Mozzarella cheese

250g Parmesan cheese

Chopped dry Oregano and Basil to season

1. Soak lasagna noodles in lukewarm water only if you’re using San Remo’s. Otherwise, following the cooking instructions on the packet label. Regardless of the ‘no-boil’ instructions, I soaked it just to soften it a little because, unlike with a mince filling, you prolly won’t have as much moisture for the noodles to cook in when you pop the assembled lasagna into the oven.

2. Slice all the vegetables 2mm-thick and mince the garlic.

3. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a shallow frying pan. Brown the onion, then add the garlic and mushrooms to saute. Remove the pan’s contents into a bowl when the garlic turns brown. Turn up the heat a little and add the brinjal slices. Brown them on both sides and remove. You do not need to fully cook them. Do the same for the zucchini and the potatoes, then remove from heat.

4. Preheat oven to 190 degrees C (375 degrees F).

5. Oil the base of a 30cm x 30cm baking dish with the remaining olive oil. Remove lasagna noodles from the water. Place 2 slices of lasagna noodles in the base. They will overlap slightly. Stir 1 tablespoon of basil and 1 tablespoon of oregano into sauce. Add a layer of pasta sauce onto the noodles and spread evenly. Divide the vegetables into 3 portions. Spread one portion evenly onto the pasta sauce. Cover generously with a mixture of mozzerella and parmesan cheese. Cover with 2 pieces of lasagna noodles and repeat the procedure (noodle, sauce, vegetables, cheese). On the top layer, spread a layer of pasta sauce over and top with cheese.

6.  Bake for 30 – 40 minutes, or until top has browned. Cool for 15 minutes before serving.

You can add other vegetables that you’re terribly fond of, such as broccoli, capsicums, spinach and olives. Alternatively, there are other cheeses that you can add to make this dish more flavorful.