As you may already know, Jeff and I try to be a lactose-free household...and by many standards, we are relatively dairy-free as well to health reasons. My long-lost love, cheese, is always trying to seduce me, especially when I browse through the lovely Italian recipes in my cookbook collection. No more, dairy devil! I have conquered you in the lasagna battle with non-dairy ricotta!
Interested in trying your hand at this super-easy and very good-for-you recipe? Read on...
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| Non-Dairy Lasagna. If any of my techy-type readers are able to address why this image is not rotated properly and how to correct, please let me know! |
Non-Dairy Lasagna by
Chalkaholic
1 package silken tofu
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
2 tsp olive oil
1 clove, minced garlic
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
½ tsp oregano and any other of your fave Italian herbs
2 Tbsp nutritional yeast (not baker’s yeast; find it in the
vitamin section of Whole Foods)
For the lasagna:
Water
Salt
½ package of lasagna noodles (I love the Colavita Lasagne product,
17.64 oz package)
1 jar pasta sauce (Newman’s own marinara is delicious)
Make ricotta:
Process tofu by placing tofu blocks atop cutting board,
sandwiching the tofu between several sheets of paper towel; press firmly using
the back of a frying pan- don’t be afraid to pound away; the majority of the
excess water will be pressed away from the tofu, leaving a mushy substance the
consistency of cottage cheese.
Place pressed tofu into a large bowl. Using a potato masher,
mash tofu. This is a physically fun recipe, between the pounding and mashing…work
it!
Add to mashed tofu lemon juice, olive oil, garlic, salt,
pepper, and herbs. Mix well.
Add to mixture nutritional yeast.
Be certain to taste ricotta before using. It should resemble
the flavor of a mild goat cheese. Do not expect a dairy miracle, OK? But trust
me, it’s good and good for you! Refrigerate until ready to use.
Make lasagna:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large pasta pot, bring water to a boil. I’ve learned
the hard way that one must have plenty of water in order to allow the noodles
free range of motion. Use the interior screw marks of the pot handles as a
guide; water should go just above this line.
Add to boiling water a dash of salt.
Add into salt water the lasagna noodles. Boil for exactly 10
minutes. No more, no less, as we want just under al dente texture, as the pasta
will cook further in the oven…and no one likes mushy pasta. Stir only once in
order to avoid the sticky, mushy factor. For real!
After lasagna is under al dente, drain pasta and set aside
to cool.
In an oven-safe casserole dish (I prefer a glass dish so
that I may keep a watchful eye on the lasagna), layer the following to line the
dish bottom:
·
Sauce
·
Noodles (1 strip thick…you may use several
strips in order to coat the sauce layer, but do not overlap the noodles atop
one another)
·
Ricotta (3 – 4 spoon-fulls, spread evenly)
·
Sauce
·
Noodles
·
Ricotta
Repeat above until ½ inch from the rim of the dish. Make the
final layer Noodles covered in sauce (no ricotta at the top)
Place lasagna dish onto a baking sheet and cover dish with
foil; place dish/sheet into the heated oven. Bake for 30 minutes; remove foil
and bake for an additional 10 minutes in order to crisp top layer of lasagna.
***If meat is desired,
I suggest browning the seasoned ground beef, draining the meat, and layering it
after the ricotta and before the sauce***
This dish improves with a little time…if refrigerated, try
to consume within 3 days. Reheat in foil-covered dish for 30 minutes.
United in Spatulas,
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