How to Make a Vegan Lasagna That’s Irresistibly Creamy and Delicious

Estimated read time 9 min read



Why It Works

  • Infusing the almond milk with aromatics delivers a better béchamel flavor.
  • Blending firm tofu into the cauliflower purée creates the textural impression of ricotta.
  • Store-bought vegan cheese substitutes are terrible (we know, we tried a bunch during testing); this creamy vegan béchamel works much better.

Let’s say you’re making a movie and need to film a fight scene. How do you make it believable without actually having the actors beat each other to a pulp? Without CGI, your only choice is subtle trickery—choosing camera angles that obscure the action, moving and shaking the camera to confuse the eye, and adding eardrum-pounding sound effects to make an air-punch seem like a sledgehammer blow. This kind of fake-out is essentially what we have to do when making vegan versions of meat and dairy dishes at home—we need to employ flavor and texture smokescreens that confuse, distract, and trick the palate into experiencing something that it’s not.

I introduced this idea of smokescreens in my piece on making a vegan version of a classic Italian lasagna alla bolognese, which traditionally features thin sheets of pasta layered with a beefy ragù and creamy béchamel sauce. Today, I’ll use the concept again to explain my approach to making a vegan version of an Italian-American–style lasagna; you know, the kind layered with ricotta, mozzarella cheese, and either tomato sauce or yet more meaty ragù.

For this lasagna, the big challenges are the ricotta and mozzarella. The pasta is easy—just avoid an egg-based product and use one made with wheat and water alone. And the sauce is easy, too; you can either go for an inherently vegan tomato sauce* or you can use my vegan ragù bolognese recipe if you want something that with a meatier texture and flavor. In the photos here, I’m using tomato sauce.

Note, this links to all the tomato sauce recipes on Serious Eats, most of which are vegan but not necessarily all.

Tackling Vegan Mozzarella

By far the most difficult substitution is the mozzarella, which has a clean and fresh milky flavor and stretchy melted texture that is near impossible to fake in vegan form. I tested every brand of vegan “mozzarella” (and also “provolone”) that I could find, and while I was somewhat impressed with one or two of those cheeses in their unmelted states, they completely failed to deliver once heated.

That left me with a decision. I could call for the vegan cheese substitutes anyway, but I decided to see if I could come up with an alternative that works better. In place of the cheese, I’m taking a cue from classic lasagna alla bolognese by using béchamel; and for the béchamel, I’m using the same vegan version I created for my vegan bolognese lasagna recipe.

In short, I use the same basic technique for a classic béchamel, but instead of cooking the flour in butter, I cook it in refined (i.e., free-of-coconut-flavor) coconut oil, then whisk in almond milk to make a creamy sauce. Because almond milk and coconut oil do not make a particularly delicious béchamel, I infuse the milk first with aromatics like bay leaf, fresh thyme, garlic, and black peppercorns, and then strain them all out before making the sauce. Those aromatics are the kinds of smokescreens I’m talking about—they layer on flavors that cover up what’s inherently lacking in the vegan substitute.

The vegan béchamel creates a silky and creamy sauce that stands in for the mozzarella far better than the faux cheeses do; the one thing missing is the mozzarella’s stretchiness, but as I mentioned above, that’s something the vegan cheeses fail to deliver as well.

How to Make Vegan Ricotta

The ricotta, meanwhile, is a slightly easier nut to crack. What we’re going for here is something mild and creamy, but with a slight graininess that emulates the texture of ricotta. I know from past recipes (both mine and Kenji’s) that cauliflower can be turned into a pretty extraordinary purée, but it’s too silky-smooth to be a convincing stand-in for ricotta. My trick is to employ a textural smokescreen by blending firm tofu into a base of cauliflower that I’ve cooked until tender with some almond milk. The tofu breaks up into tiny little bits; blended together with that silky cauliflower purée, it winds up with a much more ricotta-like texture.

For one final textural touch, I also mix in a small amount of refined coconut oil (again, this is the flavorless kind…you don’t want a taste of the tropics sneaking its way in here). True ricotta is made from the whey that’s leftover after cheesemaking, and, since most of the milk’s fat has already been removed with the cheese, the ricotta itself is a relatively lean dairy product. Still, it does have some fat in it, and the coconut oil adds just a hint of that richness to our otherwise lean faux version.

We still need flavor smokescreens, though, because a cauliflower-and-tofu purée, while mild, does not taste quite right. To address that, I blend in a generous amount of the ingredients that often season the ricotta component of a lasagna: fresh basil, dried oregano, garlic, salt, and pepper.

How to Assemble

To finish the dish, you simply have to layer it all together in a baking dish and bake it until bubbling and browned on top. The result is a one-two punch of vegan lasagna flavor. If you pay attention, you’ll see the choreography behind the illusion, but if you so much as blink you’ll miss it.

March 2018

How to Make a Vegan Lasagna That’s Irresistibly Creamy and Delicious



Cook Mode
(Keep screen awake)

For the Vegan “Ricotta”:

  • One 14ounce (395g) block firm tofu, drained

  • 1 cup (240ml) unflavored, unsweetened almond milk

  • 2 teaspoons dried oregano

  • 2 heads cauliflower (about 2 pounds; 900g each), stalks discarded and florets cut into 1-inch pieces

  • 2 tablespoons (30ml) refined neutral coconut oil (see note)

  • 25 fresh basil leaves from one large bunch, chopped

  • 3 medium cloves garlic (15g), minced

  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the Vegan Béchamel:

  • 2 cups (475ml) unflavored, unsweetened almond milk

  • 1 bay leaf

  • 5 sprigs thyme

  • 10 whole black peppercorns

  • 3 medium cloves garlic (15g), crushed

  • 3 tablespoons (45ml) refined neutral coconut oil

  • 3 tablespoons (25gall-purpose flour

  • Generous pinch freshly grated nutmeg

For the Lasagna:

  1. For the Vegan “Ricotta”: Cut tofu into 1 inch thick slabs. Set tofu on paper towels, lay more paper towels on top and press to extract any excess moisture. Set aside.

  2. In a Dutch oven or large saucepan, combine almond milk and oregano. Add cauliflower, cover, and bring almond milk to a boil over high heat. Continue to cook, covered, until cauliflower is fully tender, about 10 minutes; adjust heat as necessary to maintain boil while preventing scorching.

  3. Add coconut oil, basil, and garlic. Using an immersion blender, purée cauliflower until very smooth. Add tofu and purée into cauliflower until well incorporated; the resulting purée should have a slightly grainy, ricotta-like texture thanks to the tofu. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

  4. For the Béchamel: In a small saucepan, combine almond milk with bay leaf, thyme, peppercorns, and garlic. Bring to a bare simmer, then lower heat to maintain a bare simmer for 20 minutes. Strain almond milk into a heatproof measuring cup and discard aromatics.

  5. In a small saucepan, heat coconut oil over medium heat until melted. Add flour and cook, whisking, until raw flour smell is gone, about 2 minutes.

  6. Whisking constantly, add infused almond milk in a thin, steady stream, or in increments of a couple of tablespoons at a time, whisking thoroughly and getting into all corners of the pan to maintain a homogeneous texture. Sauce will initially become very thick, then get very thin once all the milk is added.

  7. Heat, stirring, until sauce comes to a simmer and begins to thicken slightly. Reduce heat to low and cook, stirring, until béchamel sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon, about 3 minutes. Stir in nutmeg and season with salt and pepper.

  8. For the Lasagna: Adjust oven rack to center position and preheat oven to 425°F (220°C). Drain pasta well. In a 9- by 13-inch baking dish, lay down a single layer of lasagna sheets to cover the bottom of the dish. Spread an even layer of vegan “ricotta” top, then spread a layer of tomato sauce (or vegan ragù, if using) on top of that. Drizzle with some of the béchamel. Repeat in alternating layers of pasta, “ricotta,” tomato sauce (or ragù), and béchamel sauce until baking dish is full and/or any of the components is used up. The final layer should be tomato sauce (or ragù) with béchamel drizzled on top. You may have some of the vegan “ricotta” left over, which can be reserved for another use (such as spreading on toasts).

  9. Set baking dish on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until lasagna is browned on top and bubbling, about 25 minutes. Let lasagna rest 20 minutes before serving. Cut individual portions and serve while still warm.

Special Equipment

9- by 13-inch baking dish, rimmed baking sheet, fine-mesh strainer, immersion blender

Notes

Make sure to use refined neutral coconut oil, not a virgin oil that still smells and tastes of coconut.

This Recipe Appears In



Source link

You May Also Like

More From Author

+ There are no comments

Add yours