As the days are getting colder here in Wellington, New Zealand, we get the opportunity to prepare many heavier, warming foods. I do love fresh fruits and salads, but I also have a special place in my heart for something substantial like this.
Components for the Dish
1) Tomatoey Sauce
This sauce had a base of onions and grated carrot, then just canned tomatoes, tomato paste and some black beans, well seasoned with salt, pepper and hot sauce.
2) Roux or 'White' Sauce
This is just like the dairy based one except I used an unsweetened almond milk instead of cows milk. Simply mix a decent amount of olive oil and wheat flour (I used wholemeal) into a paste that isn't too stiff, cook it for a few minutes and then gradually add your milk, whilst stirring, until it stops 'over thickening' and becomes the right consistency. This will taste awful until you hit it with lots of seasoning, nooch (nutritional yeast), and in my case whole coriander seeds and a pinch of curry powder. You could say I like to live dangerously ;)
3) Roasted Pumpkin and Garlic
Roasted in coconut oil - I chopped up a fair amount of rosemary and stirred it through, along with seasoning and a generous amount of paprika. This really makes the dish special, adds a lot of depth of flavour. I added the garlic whole, after giving them a single crush with the flat of the knife, skins and all. When it was all roasted I squeezed them out / peeled them 馃構.
Cavolo Nero, aka Kale, aka Dinosaur Skin
Chopped roughly this gets added to one or two layers as needed.
We of course need Lasagna sheets as well, that's a given. I used an 'instant' variety, which needs no precooking.
End Result
My flatmates were pretty happy with this, an no one complained about the massive portion sizes I gave them.
Hope y'all enjoyed this, I am experimenting with a whole variety of types of content, so why not throw a recipe in - even when my intended focus was more in the realm of the spiritual / metaphysical :D
Peace out friends
Phil