Would someone please help me make a vegetarian lasagne

Pink.

My son's lovely girlfriend is coming for dinner this week. She's a vegetarian for ethical reasons. We do eat a couple of veggie meals a week but apparently one of her favourite meals is veggie lasagne. It's something I've never made before, but I'd like to make one for her.

Is it possible that I could make a vegetarian lasagne that all of us (carnivorous family) would enjoy? Or would I be better to make our normal version with an individual vegetarian version for her? I'd prefer us all to eat the same meal so that she doesn't feel different. She's quite happy to eat meat substitutes, but I have absolutely no idea of what type to go for? Any advice would be really appreciated.

I'm thinking mushrooms with garic mayo, melba toast and bit of salad garnish for a starter and raspberry pavlova for desert? Can anyone see any obvious vegetarian problems with either of these that I may have missed?

I'll merge this thread later once I've had some replies.

Pink

lynzpower

Oh veggie lasagne is one of the greatest meals ever I have to make one soon, thanks for the reminder. Im a meat eater but love these meals...

There are all sorts of ways of making them but I do roasted veggie lasagne:

Oven tray with aubergine, courgette mushrooms peppers onions, butternut squash works etc, roasted in olive oil till softish and smoky.

Make a sauce with passata, puree and garlic, herbs, a little lazy chilli and lightly coat your veg in it, you dont want it too wet..

Layer it up with a white sauce as per normal

Top with cheese oven it ( you may need to consider veggie cheese, not sure...?)

Great meal with a loaf of garlic bread and crisp green salad.

Yum!

Alternatively you can make a quorn mince in much the same way as a normal ragu, instead of browning etc the meat, just chuck the quorn mince into your ragu sauce.

lynzpower

Oh in terms of the pavlova, you may want to ask whether she eats eggs. If not I would go for a crumble type dessert instead...

I dont hear of many vegetarians who dont eat eggs but there are a few.

thistledome

lynzpower wrote: »

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Alternatively you can make a quorn mince in much the same way as a normal ragu, instead of browning etc the meat, just chuck the quorn mince into your ragu sauce.

This is how I do mine. I've served it to carnivores and they've asked for seconds, so it must be edible. Quorn mince can be found in the freezer department of most supermarkets and also in the chilled cabinets.

As lynzpower said, check the cheese label to make sure it's vegetarian and watch out for Parmesan if you like to use it, as traditionally it's not vegetarian.

LondonDreamer

lynzpower wrote: »

Alternatively you can make a quorn mince in much the same way as a normal ragu, instead of browning etc the meat, just chuck the quorn mince into your ragu sauce.

This is what I do, using either frozen vegetarian mince or dried soya mince reconstituted in stock for extra flavour. And I'm not veggie, just not a huge fan of beef.

For both the starter and dessert, I'd be careful that the mayo/meringue uses free range or organic eggs - assuming she eats them. You may already do this for your own household anyway, but worth a mention in case. Check for things like rennet or gelatine in ingredients as well.

Although it depends how strictly she is vegetarian. As an example, some of my veggie friends are only against eating dead animals and (IMO, sadly) don't really care about welfare in production animals or using animal derived ingredients. It's only the actual flesh they won't eat.

jackieglasgow

Pink I am veggie, and live with two men who dont eat cheese, so lasagne is a rare treat here. If she will eat quorn, then just do as you would with your minced beef. You can use grana pandano cheese, it is vegetarian (check the label, some are, some aren't). My other faves are roasted veg lasagne and lentil and spinach. If you would like the recipe, I will post it in the morning when I get back up.

Also, I won't eat shop bought mayo because it normally doesnt use free range eggs, or meringues, but I would never be so rude as to ask if I was a guest in someone's house. I would.probably just say I am not hungry, or not eat them.

Oh, also if you use quorn, dont just chuck it in the sauce, fry it off with your onion and herbs and spices and then maker the ragu around it, the flavour is much better. I usually stick some veg bouillion in too.

Shalva

I make a very simple veg. lasagne that all my meat eating household eat by using cottage cheese instead of the meat layers. You could always make a richer sauce to go with it by adding mushrooms, red peppers ect.........

rachbc

No no no to meat substitutes here. I roast long slices of pepper aubergine and courgette in olive oil, make a thick Tom sauce with red wine, onion garlic and passata or tinned toms. Layer sauce, veg, sliced mozzarella then pasta. I do three of each top with more mozzarella and some Parmesan. It's gorgeous even if I do say so myself!

squeaky

Silly question #49...

Can she cook?

You could have a bonding exercise and cook the lasagne together... maybe you'll both learn something from it

MatyMoo

I do mine using finely chopped peppers, courgette, mushrooms, aubergines, garlic & onion fried off in a bit of olive oil and then add tomatoes (fresh, tinned,passata, whatever I have available), herbs, red wine etc to make a ragu (keeping it reasonably dry) and then layer up the same as a meat lasagne.

hotcookie101

The last time I made a veggie lasagne I made a roast veg sauce (onions, aubergine, peppers, garlic & tomatoes) I think I added some passata too. I also had some ricotta and spinach lying around and wilted the spinach and mixed it through the ricotta, and then layered it up with a cheese sauce (grana padano rather than parmesan for veggies &tbh it's what I usually have in) and it was really yummy, the spinach /ricotta layer really added something

I would avoid meat subs for veggie lasagne-for me its about the veggie sauce rather than making it just like a meat one