Yesterday evening, I invented & made this lovely vegetarian lentil lasagna! It is a very filling lasagna with a home-made pasta veggies sauce. I also added 4 tablespoons store-bought red pesto to the sauce for extra flavor, of course! This sauce would be ideal to make completely vegan by serving it with vegan chorizo sausages or making the lasagna completely vegan by using vegan shredded cheese on top! It is that adaptable & simple! Yes!

Step 1: Gather Your Ingredients!

Recipe: For 1 medium oven dish full of lasagna = 4-6 big portions!

Ingredients:

For the tomato-lentil sauce:

2 medium white onions, peeled & chopped

2 fat cloves of garlic, peeled & chopped

3 carrots, peeled & cut up into rounds

1 sweet red bell pepper, deseeded & cut up into strips

225 gr (1 1/2 cup) green courgette, cut up into chunks (no pits & mushy interior!)

175 gr (1 1/2 cup) green lentils that need 30 minutes of cooking

4 tablespoons vegetarian store-bought red pesto

black pepper

Maldon sea salt

a fruity extra virgin olive oil

400 gr tomato passata

1 tablespoon tomato paste

6 big basil leaves, torn up

250 ml hot vegetarian stock

150 ml hot water

For the rest:

5-6 spelt lasagna sheets, uncooked!

200 gr mixed grated gratin cheese

Step 2: First, Make Your Tomato-veggie-lentil Sauce!

Take a large cooking pot & add some drizzles of that fruity extra virgin olive oil. Heat up on medium heat. When hot, add chopped garlic, onion, red sweet pepper strips & torn basil leaves. Fry for about 10 minutes, stirring often. Then, add chopped courgette & carrots, stirring often. Season with some black pepper & some sea salt. Fry until nearly tender. Now, add green lentils, tomato paste, tomato passata, red pesto & hot veggie stock. Stir everything round into the pot. See that your lentils are all covered within the sauce. Turn your heat lower so that the sauce will thicken & your lentils will get cooked but not too hot. It all must simmer though!

After 10 minutes or so, stir everything well round into the pot & stick besides the pot because you don’t want the lentils & sauce to get burned. Check often & stir often too. It is better that your sauce simmers then that it will burn! After 15 of cooking, my sauce got too thick & I added 150 ml of hot water to the thicker sauce. Stir well through & simmer further for another 15 minutes or until your lentils are just cooked & your carrots are cooked through. You want your lentils to be just perfect! That means just cooked, just tender all the ay through! No mushy lentils, thank you very much! Taste. I added about 15 grins of black pepper & about 10 pinches of salt to the thicker sauce. Stir well.

Step 3: Preheat Your Oven, Make Layers & Bake!

Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°F) for 10 minutes.

Take your lasagna oven dish. Mine was: 20 cm x 25 cm.

Place 1/3 of your sauce in the bottom of your lasagna dish. ( See 1st photo!)

Top with 2 spelt lasagna sheets & 1/2 of a 3rd one. ( See 2nd photo!)

Top with 1/3 of the sauce. ( See 3rd photo!) The lasagna sheets must be completely covered by the veggies sauce.

Then, top with 2 sheets & 1/2 of a 3rd one.( See 4th photo!)

Now, smear the last third of the sauce over the sheets. ( See 5th photo!)

Finally, scatter your grated gratin cheese all over the surface of your lentil-veggie sauce & place in the lower end of your oven & bake for 30 minutes! ( See 6th photo!)

You will end up with a lovely gratin of cheese on top of your lentil lasagna! Your house will smell amazing when you open your oven door! ooh yes! Take out of the oven & wait for 10 minutes before serving! Otherwise your lasagna will be too hot to enjoy the yummy flavors!!!

My husband thought this as the best home-made lasagna ever!!! 10/10! This is great for entertaining! Enjoy, sweeties!

You can read this tasty recipe also here on my blog: https://sophiesfoodiefiles.wordpress.com/2017/01/12/vegetarian-lentil-lasagna/