2nd Post for VeganMoFo: Beet, Carrot, Dried Onion and Mushroom Lasagna Sauce influenced by Luchi Baranda of the Kushi Institute and incorporates GreenKitchenStories’ Lasagna ( substituting partially for tomato sauce and no cheese). Makes 3 different vegetable lasagnas 23cmX23cm, serves 8-12

Thus far my day has been preempted by a sewing project.  Did you ever put off baking until the “last-minute” because you talked yourself into believing the dish could be made in a flash because all the ingredients were “set to go”? My intention was to bake the lasagna Motzei Shabbat (after Shabbat), last night. After all, I represent Israel. with a few other bloggers in VeganMoFo, the Vegan Month Of Food,  which began September 1, 2014 this year! See more at: http://www.veganmofo.com/about/#sthash.uxqlk7IN.dpuf .

My husband and I spent Shabbat with friends and family. My first response was, “Wow! Shabbat, and I don’t need to enter  the kitchen and  touch a pinky to a tea-cup .”

However, I just could not resist buying a trove of fresh vegetables last week that our purveyors in Shuk Machanah Yehudah offer. Also, from past history, Sunday is a “left-over” day. How could I be left without any “left-overs”?

In anticipation of a lasagna marathon, five batches of vegetables are stacked in my fridge, as their use was put off until Motzei Shabbat.  As was mentioned, I paint. I laid out a tray of assorted roasted bright roasted primary color veggies, (red cabbage and onion, squash, kale, beets, broccoli, for my Shabbat hosts from the batch. On Friday night another guest at my host’s table exclaimed, “Do I say a Shechyanu, for a new vegetable? I’ve never had kale.” She remarked about the variety of colors on the tray. The answered to her question was that we only recite the Shechianu on new beginnings, one example is before one eats  a  new type of tree fruit in the season.

By Motzei Shabbat, I was wide awake and didn’t have the desire to bake Lasagna. I would not taste it,  so late at night because I could make  “fresh” on Sunday. Lastly, my sewing machine was on the counter and I really wanted to finish a three-piece out-fit and fix my grand-daughter’s skirt zipper. The plan was changed. Do the sewing and have the finished items ready to take with me to my grand-daughter along with some chicken soup and oranges for another grand-daughter  with a cold.  Do the finishing touches on the garments while waiting in the office to see my  doctor on Sunday. I’ll visit with the kids, study Arabic, and have dinner at my daughter’s house, before her shiur (class).

Seeing my grand-children two days in a row. What a Bracha!

Today, Sunday, I’ll select from the trays for the lasagna stuffing:

mushroom,  squash in one,

kale, red onion, in another.

Lastly, broccoli, cauliflower in a third.

Remaining red pepper and ochre will make a great patte with celery and nuts, (not macrobiotic).

Tomorrow, I’ll bake the lasagna. (Bli Neder). Now I have fresh basil to include in the tofu layer.

Beet, Carrot, Dried Onion, and  Mushroom Lasagna influenced by Luchi Baranda of the Kushi Institute and incorporated into blog GreenKitchenStories’ Lasagna (recipe includes some tomato sauce and  tofu substitutes for cheese).
Serves at least 8 persons. Will make 3 lasagna dishes. In the future, I will offer exact weights for vegetables.

This is a dishe that works well making a day in advance. The flavors will become more intense and the vegetables more tender.

Sauce Ingredients:

2 tbsp olive oil
2 yellow onions, chopped (watch Ms. Baranda for first-rate instruction).
8 small beets, peeled & quartered, then diced . Can be roasted first.
4 medium-sized carrots, shredded
2 sprigs thyme
sea salt & pepper to taste
1 cup red wine plus 2 tbsp tomato paste or 50 grams Tomato Resek ( thicker than Tomato Sauce, and thinner than Tomato Paste

2 cups vegetable stock, 3 bay leaves, dried basil, parsley

2 tsp arrowroot powder, solved in 2 tbsp water (optional). I didn’t use it. Dried onions worked very well as a thickener.

2-3 Portobello mushrooms sliced and grilled with the red onions. My mushrooms were huge.
10 champignon mushroom ( whatever is available)
1 cup dried onion (Pereg in the shuk)

Tip: Preparing for the sauce: I don’t enjoy dicing beets. My trick is to peel by hand with as wide a peeler as you have. Next, I used a  food processor french fry blade after the beets were sliced, to make long strips. Lastly, used the metal mixing blade very briefly.

Cooking the sauce: Heat the olive oil in a dutch oven or a large cast iron pot over medium heat. Stir in onions, sauté until soft. Toss beets, carrots, thyme and salt and pepper into the pan, cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add mushrooms. Stir in the tomato paste, red wine, vegetable stock and bay leaves, let simmer on low heat for 40 minutes. Take off the stove. Let cool for several hours and add the tomato sauce (Resek) to taste. Meanwhile prepare the mushrooms and vegetables.

Vegetable filling: Spread olive oil in 3 paper lined thermal glass baking dishes, 23cm X 24cm. Place in hottest part of the oven.  Grill 5 minutes turn the vegetables. Lower the heat and continues searing the vegetables: ( Portobello,champignon mushrooms and red onions, etc)  stirring occasionally, until tender and golden in color. Season to taste. Set aside. See technique below under Grilled Vegetables.

Weigh out the vegetables for the three lasagna’s: mushroom, squash in one

kale, red onion, mushroom in a second and broccoli, cauliflower mushroom in a third. Be sure that they are adequately soft and cut into small pieces. You may carefully use a food processor with the steel blade. Try to have an assembly line working.

Finishing the “tomato stew”: Taste the sauce, add more wine, stock or herbs if you like. If you prefer the sauce a little thicker, add arrowroot mixture, but this is optional. Add mushrooms and dried onions and simmer for 10 more minutes. Hold the “tomato” mixture a day or two until you have prepared the tofu.

Lasagna With Grilled Vegetables
Serves for 8 in three dishes

 

Substitute Tomato sauce (scroll up for recipe). At the end my sauce weighed three lbs; 15oz.
1 package of whole wheat (or gluten-free) lasagna pasta, or make your own (see photo last post). Fresh pasta in photo above weighed 10.5 oz. Gave me 2 layers of pasta for each lasagna. The pasta sample is on the left in the photo. The beauty of home-made pasts is that you don’t need to boil it.
1 package toffuti cream cheese 225 gr

Grilled vegetables (scroll down for recipe)
3 packages of soft tofu cheese (each 300 g)

Baking Procedure: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Start with a thin layer of  sauce, cover with a layer of lasagna noodles, a layer of lemon-tempeh/toffuti mixture, a layer of grilled vegetables and a layer of  sauce. Repeat 2-3 times, top the last layer with the rest of the vegetables, the sauce, the grated tofu mixture. Bake it in the oven for 40-50 minutes.  The lasagna pasta was frozen. At first, the dough formed holes. This was corrected when the dough was past through the pasta machine several times.  The technique is described in an earlier post. https://savyatseventy.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=67&action=edit

Grilled Vegetables

2 tbsp olive oil,  with 1 clove garlic, salt

2 zucchini/squash (sliced),

300 g mushrooms, ochre, broccoli, cauliflower, red onions

300 g fresh kale 1 clove garlic

Dash the zucchini/squash and  other vegetables with olive oil and salt and grill them in the oven at 400°F  or 250 C. for about 10 minutes. Add in the mushrooms and the kale in the pan for 5 minutes with additional olive oil, salt and garlic to your taste. You could also grill the cruciforus vegetables in a broiler pan with red onion.  The important thing is that the vegetables release some of their moist before putting them in the lasagna.

Grilling the tofu:

Dash thinly sliced tofu with olive oil and grill them in the oven at 400°F for about 10 minutes each side.

Lemon- tofu Lasagna layer.

450 grs raw,   550 grs grilled tofu ( mixed with toffuti cream cheese
1 large organic size lemons (juice & zest)
1 large handful of fresh basil (chopped) 50 grs or 1.5 oz. and parsley, ( used dry parsley). please see photo.
a pinch of sea salt
Place grilled tofu cut into small pieces into you food processor fitted with the steel blade. Add grated lemon zest and lemon juice to the bowl.  Process. Add basil, salt,  parsley and lemon pepper if you desire. I left out the lemon pepper.  to the mixture. Combine toffuti into the mixture and process. Place in fridge while you prepare the pasta.

Dried fried onion and dried parsley from Pereg in Shuk Machanah Yehuda. Great to have in the fridge.

Baked Broccoli Lasagna. The bright red of the beets got toned-down. 

See the instructions on how to put the lasagna together in the beginning of the recipe under Baking Procedure: 

Enjoy Savyatseventy Vegetable Lasagna!

Comments: Together the 3 lasagnas serve 12! I also added some broth after completing 3/4 of the baking time. This dish will also be tasty served cold. This is not a macrobiotic recipe because  a small amount of tomato and dried fried onion are included . There are also mixed opinions as to whether tofu should be included in a macrobiotics diet as it is a processed food.

LeHitraot

Ida