Here is my new favourite vegetarian lasagna recipe that actually came about by accident. I had a few things in the fridge I needed to use up: some fresh tomatoes, a stack of greens, and some leftover fresh ricotta. Initially, I thought of making Cannelloni, but the idea of piping mixture into tubes was a bit much, especially with the short amount of time I had. Lasagna was my next best (time-efficient) option, and to my surprise, resulted in this amazing pasta recipe, a new favorite in my home. The fresh tomato taste, with chili and lemon, is a lovely contrast to the rich ricotta and earthy, peppery greens.
Once all the ingredients are prepared, the final assembly happens quite quickly. I’ve uploaded a few assembly process photos for reference, but feel free to leave a comment below if you have any questions.
I hope you LOVE this recipe as much as I do. Enjoy!
Ingredients
- 1 red onion
- 3 cloves garlic
- Pinch of hot chilli flakes
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 10 medium sized ripe tomatoes
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 bunch basil, leaves torn
- 600g ricotta, drained well
- ½ cup parmesan, finely grated
- 2 eggs
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- 300g mozzarella
- 100g baby rocket
- 100g baby spinach
- 8-10 stalks tuscan kale (cavolo nero), finely shredded
- 400g gluten free pasta sheets (I use 'San Remo')
- Olive oil
- Sea salt
- Freshly cracked black pepper
Method
- Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees celcius.
- Finely chop the onion and garlic and sauté in a pan until soft.
- Whiz the tomatoes in a blender or food processor until finely chopped. I use my NutriBullet which is quick and easy!
- Pour the whizzed tomatoes into the pan with the onion and garlic.
- Then add the lemon zest, chilli flakes, bay leaves, and half of the basil.
- Simmer the sauce for 20-30 minutes then remove the bay leaves and discard.
- While the sauce is simmering, sauté the spinach, rocket and shredded kale in a pan with a little olive oil until wilted, then remove from the heat and set aside.
- In a medium mixing bowl add the ricotta, parmesan, eggs, nutmeg, some salt and pepper, and mix with a fork to combine.
- Add the wilted spinach, rocket and kale to the ricotta mixture and stir to combine.
- Now for the fun part! Using a large baking dish, spread some of the tomato sauce onto the bottom of the dish, add one layer of pasta sheets then spread a layer of the greens and ricotta mix, some basil leaves and another layer of pasta sheets. Repeat until all the ingredients have been used up.
- Place mozzarella slices and basil on top, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper.
- Place the baking dish into your pre-heated oven and cook for 50 minutes.
- Once cooked, remove from the oven and serve with a fresh garden salad. Delish!
Free Resources
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