Creamy Red Pepper Lentil Lasagna
12 lasagna noodles
2 (15 ounce) cans red lentils, drained
2 red bell peppers, chopped
1 onion, chopped
oil, as needed
4 cups tomato pasta sauce (I use Prego)
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon basil
1 teaspoon thyme
salt and pepper, to taste
3 tablespoons vegan butter (I use Becel vegan or Earth Balance)
2 tablespoons flour, plus more as needed
2 cups nondairy milk (I always use Silk soymilk), divided
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Cook lasagna noodles according to package directions. Some need to be boiled and some don't. Boil lentils with water in a medium sized pot for 30 minutes.
2. While lentils are cooking, fry the onion and red pepper until onion becomes translucent (approx 6-8 minutes). Drain and rinse the lentils when done, then add them to the pan with the veggies.
3. Add the tomato sauce and spices, then cook the mixture for a few minutes. Put a thin layer of tomato sauce on your lasagna baking pan (approximately 9 x13"). To assemble your lasagna, put a layer of noodles, a layer of the lentil mixture, a layer of noodles, a layer of the lentil muxture, then top with a layer of noodles.
4. Next, prepare the white sauce for the topping. In a small sauce pan, melt vegan butter. When it is melted, remove from heat and add flour, and mix well. Add flour as needed until you get a thick creamy sauce. Add 1 cup milk, stir well, and heat on medium-high heat. Constantly stir.
5. When the sauce starts to thicken, add the second cup of milk. Keep stirring until the saucer starts to thicken, then reduce heat and let sit for 2-3 minutes, stirring occasionally. When the sauce is a think alfredo like texture, pour over the top of the lasagna. Bake for about 1 hour. Be careful not to burn, or let the top get brown.
I sprinkle on parsley before serving for visual effect. Mushrooms go well in this dish as well.
Source of recipe: I wrote this recipe.
SO HOW'D IT GO?
This recipe is indeed wonderful. So tasty and so filling, not to mention it's pretty cheap to make also = trifecta :D
I used dry red lentils - they don't sell them in the can here, probably would of have 2 cups dry? Not really sure, just tipped what was left in the bag into the pot! Didn't do anything different, except add onion powder, nutmeg and a little nutritional yeast to the bechamel sauce. I also added some of the bechamel sauce to one of my lentil layers. Who would've thought a lasagne could be such a good source of fibre ;) More people should definitely give this a go. Definitely will be making this again and again. Thanks for the recipe :)
This recipe was wonderful!!! Thank you! My family loved it, even my oldest picky daughter. :D
Here are the additions I did: I used 1 cup of dry lentils, cooked. I also added in mushrooms to the sauce. I layered on spinach (BC I had some that needed to be used)...so it went noodles, lentil sauce, spinach, etc. Also on the very top, I spread some mozzarella flavored soy cheese and Parmesan flavored soy cheese. I also only baked it at 350 for about 40 min.
i tried this tonite and it was fantastic! i used no bake lasagna noodles to speed things up, i subed 2 cans of black eye peas for the lentils (they were not available) and i used plain almond milk instead of soy milk. the result was awesome! sweet and full of flavor, much better than the lasagnas i've been having since i've gone vegan that are loaded with tofu and spinach...a welcome change that i will make again! ;)b
Great recipe!
It turns out looking just like regular lasagna--but tastes better! I hadn't had any variation of lasagna for about 7 or 8 years before making this last night, so that may have impacted my infatuation with it. But it was delicious.