This recipe took me a while to get right as generally lasagne is not a no fuss meal. There are two sauces to make as well as the filling. However, I feel this can be termed as no fuss because you do not have to stand over the stove stirring a beschemal sauce. The cashew ricotta is quick to make in a blender and the tomato sauce and roasted veggies are simply prepped and left to cook.
Maximum flavour for minimum effort. The result is a rich, filling and indulgent lasagne.
Ingredients, serves 4.
2 x 500g packs of passata
2 garlic cloves, sliced
2 courgettes
2 leeks
1 red pepper
200g cashews
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
Half a teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon nutritional yeast flakes
1 pack of lasagne sheets
1 small bunch of basil
Method
Soak the cashews in freshly boiled water and leave covered for an hour.
Preheat the oven to 200c.
Slice the courgettes into rounds and then quarters. Slice the leeks into rounds and then halves. Chop the pepper into roughly the same size and place onto a baking tray with a drizzle of oil. Season and bake in the oven for 40 minutes. Move the veggies around the tray after 20 minutes or so and break up the leek layers.
Heat a tablespoon of oil in a saucepan and add the garlic. Fry until fragrant and then add the passata. Simmer gently for 40 minutes. Season to taste.
In the meantime place the soaked cashews in a blender with half a cup of water, white wine vinegar, nutritional yeast flakes and salt. Whizz up until it is all incorporated but still has some texture. You do not want a smooth sauce, you are aiming for a ricotta like texture. If the mixture seems too dry to blend, add a bit more vinegar.
Once the veggies are done taken them out and turn the oven up to 220c. Take the sauce off the heat when it is ready.
Take an oven dish approx 22cm x 22cm and place half of the veggies in the bottom. Pour over 2 ladles of tomato sauce. Add a third of the cashew ricotta evenly in little blobs.
Cover with a layer of lasagne sheets and then spread over a third of the cashew ricotta. Add the rest of the veggies and half of the remaining tomato sauce. Add a single layer of basil on top before topping with another layer of lasagne sheets.
Top with spreading over the rest of the cashew ricotta and tomato sauce. Sprinkle over a hand full of yeast flakes. Cover with foil and bake for 1 hr – 1 hr 15 minutes, until pasta is soft. Leave to stand for a few minutes before serving. Everyone will love this dish, it is simple yet amazingly tasty.
