Lasagne al forno
Ingredients
225-350g/8-12oz ready to use lasagne verde sheets
For the mushroom sauce:
2 tbspn olive oil
1 onion , very finely chopped
300g/11oz mushrooms, washed and finely chopped
1 large clove garlic , crushed
225g/8oz tin of tomatoes
2 tbspn sherry or 3-4 tbspn red wine
4 heaped tbspn tomato puree
1 tspn dried basil
1 tspn black olive pate, tapenade, or pitted and mashed black olives
For the cream sauce:
50g/2oz vegan margarine
50g/2oz plain flour
750ml/1 ¼ pints soya milk
250 ml /8fl oz soya cream
freshly grated nutmeg
salt
freshly ground black pepper
Method
1. First, make the mushroom sauce. Heat the oil in a medium-sized pan. Add the onion and fry for 5 minutes, covered.
2. Add the mushrooms together with the garlic, and fry, stirring often for a further 5 minutes, until browned slightly.
3. Add the tomatoes, sherry or wine, tomato puree, olives and basil. Mix well, then cover and leave for 25-30 minutes until thickened.
4. Meanwhile, make the cream sauce. Melt the margarine in a medium-sized pan, then add the flour.
5. Stir over the heat for a moment, then stir in a third of the soya milk. Continue to stir until the milk has been incorporated and the mixture has thickened, then stir in another third of the milk and stir again. Repeat with the final third, stirring until the sauce is smooth.
6. Leave the sauce to cook over a gentle heat for 10 minutes, then remove from the heat and stir in the cream, add a good grating of nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste.
7. To assemble the lasagne, first grease a dish thoroughly. Rinse the lasagne sheets under cold running water, then arrange in the base of the dish to cover the bottom. On top of this add half the mushroom sauce, then a third of the cream sauce, smoothing them evenly. Top this with another layer of lasagne, then the rest of the mushroom sauce followed by another third of the cream sauce.
8. Finish with a layer of lasagne, followed by the remainder of the cream sauce.
9. Preheat the oven to 180 C/350 F/gas mark 4 and bake for about 35 minutes.