World's Best Vegetarian Lasagna

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puffin3

Senior Cook
Joined
Dec 29, 2012
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481
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Duncan
That's a big claim. I created this lasagna after having the best mushroom and black olive pizza I've ever tasted in Italy.
If you decide to make 'substitutions' to my recipe I wouldn't bother making it.

Prep the following ingredients not in any specific order:

1 large sweet onion* The onion should be the ‘sweet variety. It’s got less ‘heat’ than a regular table onion. In the food processor fine chop the onion. Put the chopped onion into a cold water bath for a few minutes. This helps remove the bitter heat and leaves just a nice onion flavour. I do this whenever I’m making any recipe calling for onion. Rinse and drain and pat dry on some PTs. Then gently sauté the onion in a T of olive oil to just soften the onion. Remove from the pan and set aside.

20 medium size mushrooms. Use the ‘slicer’ blade on the food processor to thin slice the mushrooms.
Sauté the mushrooms in 2T olive oil until just soft. You don’t have to fry them until ‘golden brown’. Put them in a bowl and sprinkle on a heaping T of dried oregano. This is the only herb you’ll be using. Set aside .

2 375 ml tins of sliced black olives drained. I use ‘Unico’. Drain the tins but don’t put them together and don’t rinse them. You’ll be using a tin each in different layers.
1 500 gram wedge of Asiago cheese.
It really needs to be Asiago cheese to give it that ‘special something’. Mozza cheese doesn’t have the same flavour hit as Asiago. Into the freezer for 30 minutes then grate it using the grater blade on the food processor. Set aside in the fridge. You can buy pre-grated packages of three types of cheese but they are more expensive.

Spinach:
2 bunches of fresh spinach. Cut off an inch or so of the stems. Carefully wash each leaf to make positive it doesn’t have any dirt on it. Rinse well and pat dry. Set aside.* If you use thawed frozen spinach squeeze out as much water as you can before using it.

Lasagna noodles: I use Catelli noodles but rice noodles and other types of noodles are available.
In a large pot of salted boiling water put each noodle in separately and at different angles so they don’t stick together. Boil them until just cooked through. Drain and cool in cold water to stop them from cooking. Set aside.

Build:
Use olive oil to coat the inside of the glass lasagna pan. The order of the layers isn’t that important.
I put a layer down of three lasagna noodles.
Then a light sprinkle of grated cheese.
Then a layer of sweet onion. This is the only sweet onion layer.
Then a light sprinkle of Asiago cheese.
Then a layer of noodles.
Then a sprinkle of cheese.
Then a layer of the mushroom/oregano* There will be some liquid with the mushrooms. Use it. The noodles will absorb the tasty flavors.
Then a tin of sliced black olives. Then a sprinkle of cheese.
Then a layer of spinach. Use it all.
Then a layer of three noodles.
Then a sprinkle of cheese.
Then a tin of black olives.
And finally sprinkle on whatever Asiago cheese is left. There should be enough to cover the black olives.
You’ll need to press down on the layers to fit them all into the glass dish.
But everything fits.
Pro Tip: At this point use a very sharp knife to cut through the lasagna to make what later will be individual portions. The portions are a lot easier to remove from the pan this way before serving. I use a steel egg turner to remove the portions.
You can make the lasagna the day before serving and keep it covered in the fridge.
When you want to serve put the lasagna into a 275-300 F oven for an hour or so. When you see the sides bubbling remove and serve.
If you use too high a heat the cheese and top layer of noodles will turn hard. Better to heat the lasagna for a longer time using low heat.
Enjoy!
 
It is a big claim. Everybody knows that I make best vegetarian lasagna in the world. ??


Sent from my iPhone using Discuss Cooking
 
I want both of you to freeze some, place it in a container with dry ice, and send me a sample so that I can judge whose is best.:mrgreen: I know, I know. You're thinking that this is a big sacrifice of my time. But I'm willing to do it for the sake of everyone on DC. I'd like to recieve the samples on Saturday, so get cooking.:LOL:

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
 
I would be willing to sacrifice my time and impeccable taste buds to be a co-judge with Chief. Please be sure to make enough for both of us. :LOL:
 
I would be willing to sacrifice my time and impeccable taste buds to be a co-judge with Chief. Please be sure to make enough for both of us. :LOL:
I'll be very interested to see if anyone follows the recipe and reports back to us.
Last Sunday I made four of these lasagnas, one each for our four adult kids.
Two of them have many years experience in high end hotels. One a head chef, the other head of 'HR' in a world class hotel/restaurant group. Think 'Fairmount'
Both of these kids have eaten the finest foods at their work on a daily bases.
Both of them say my vegetarian lasagna is the best they have ever eaten anywhere.:chef:
 
I'll be very interested to see if anyone follows the recipe and reports back to us.
Last Sunday I made four of these lasagnas, one each for our four adult kids.
Two of them have many years experience in high end hotels. One a head chef, the other head of 'HR' in a world class hotel/restaurant group. Think 'Fairmount'
Both of these kids have eaten the finest foods at their work on a daily bases.
Both of them say my vegetarian lasagna is the best they have ever eaten anywhere.:chef:

That will indeed be interesting Puffin. I don't run a test kitchen myself so it won't be me.
This was a turn off from the start...
If you decide to make 'substitutions' to my recipe I wouldn't bother making it.
 
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That will indeed be interesting Puffin. I don't run a test kitchen myself so it won't be me.
This was a turn off from the start...
So why would you be "turned off" when someone suggests not using substitutes? I'm sorry. I just don't get the point of making a dish based on a recipe and deciding not to follow it.
Please explain your logic.
What specifically would you choose to 'substitute? Using ricotta cheese instead of a hard cheese?
Why do millions of people buy cookbooks every year? "The recipe calls for potatoes but I don't have any so I'll use macaroni instead. I'm sure there won't be any big difference in the final result". Really? "The classic 'BB' recipe calls for beef but I don't like beef so I'll use hot dog wieners instead."
Go ahead.
 
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So why would you be "turned off" when someone suggests not using substitutes? I'm sorry. I just don't get the point of making a dish based on a recipe and deciding not to follow it.
Please explain your logic.
What specifically would you choose to 'substitute? Using ricotta cheese instead of a hard cheese?
Why do millions of people buy cookbooks every year? "The recipe calls for potatoes but I don't have any so I'll use macaroni instead. I'm sure there won't be any big difference in the final result". Really?

People make substitutions all the time. DH and I don't like eggplant, so I make ratatouille without it. And I've made moussakka with zucchini instead. And I don't like Swiss cheese, so I use Havarti instead. I expect I'll enjoy the final result more because there won't be ingredients I don't like or that will be wasted because DH will pick them out and leave them on the plate.

I still buy cookbooks because I like reading them and being inspired by them, but I don't always cook recipes directly from them with no changes. Why? Because I'm a confident cook :cool: :chef:

ETA: btw, I don't like cooked leaves or black olives, either. Only oil-cured black olives. But I would probably substitute roasted red peppers for the spinach and leave out the olives.
 
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I'll be very interested to see if anyone follows the recipe and reports back to us...
It's one thing when Chief puts the "world's best" in his title because I think we all know it's pretty much tongue-in-cheek. On you, it just looks cheeky, but not in an endearing way.

I have cookbooks because I like reading them too, like novels. And like GG and others, I will adjust an ingredient or two if what is in a recipe does not suit our flavor liking. Even my favorite TV chef, Jacques Pepin, is known to state that if you don't like a certain ingredient in his recipe you are free to substitute one that you enjoy. Until you have a TV show I can watch, I'll consider Pepin's suggestion to have more gravitas.

I would not be able to follow your recipe exactly for the following reasons:
1) I do not use paper towels. I find my vintage cotton and linen cloth towels to be better, not to mention the cost and environmental upside to using something reusable. I do make sure they are properly cleansed when I wash them.
2) Although I am not opposed to using a food processor, my hands and a knife can thin-slice mushrooms or most anything else much thinner. It may not be done as quickly, but there is something meditative about hand work in the kitchen.
3) You are perfectly right about mozzarella not tasting like asiago. To me, asiago tastes like it could be the flavor extract of locker room sox. Why would I want to grate our son's old football gear into a food I'll never know.

Three strikes. Not to mention your admonition to make it exactly. As Hall and Oates once sang: ...no can do.

puffin, it's about time you dragged your pompous arse off of your high horse and came down here with us peasants. (Mods, feel free to delete this sentence if you find it's inappropriate. ;) )
 
You lost me in the first paragraph. Onions give me such agita that we have a mutual non-aggression pact. I don't eat them, and they don't make me sleep sitting up.
 
Slow down everyone. Puffin gave a recipe that he or she thinks is great, obviously one of the best that she/he has tasted. The idea is that he/she wants to share something delectable with the rest of us, and feels that to alter the recipe would ruin the experience. I believe the intent was to make sure we could all experience the promise of something the same as what puffin experienced.

Unfortunately, Puffin, your choice of words does come across as arrogant. Arrogance is not well tolerated here, whether it was intentional or not. I have been arrogant in my life, and always, I have been humbled by someone who did whatever I did better than I could.

Example: I have a pancake recipe that is well received, even somewhat famous in my home town and with certain groups in our sister city in Ontario. We had a contest here on DC to determine who had the best pancake recipe. Mine tied with several other people. Yes, mine is a great recipe, but not better that any of the other recipes that competed, just different. All of them were excellent, and had their place at the honors table.

We all have differing tastes. I think I make an outstanding liver pate', as does a close friend. DW, and most of my family think it's one of the worst tasting things ever. Of course they hate liver. If you ask them, it's a failure, and not worth the time or money to make. And they all have favorites that I think are ho-hum.

Puffin, I think your recipe looks great. I think my DW would find it not to her taste at all. Me, I say thank you for sharing. Wish I could have some for supper tonight. I can't afford to make it, and be the only one in the house to like it. That's just the way the world is.

Keep on sharing your best recipes. Just add a little humility in the way you present it. Some will love your best, and some will think that it's not so good, as it doesn't satisfy their palate.

I recently posted a recipe for plumb butter that I created. Only one person responded to it. I'm not annoyed as canned plumbs are really not very good, IMO. I wasn't surprised at the response.

And everyone else, I think we need to remember that teh way something is written doesn't always portray the intent of the poster. Let's all give each other the benefit of the doubt.

Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
 
Nicely put, Chief. We all have things we're passionate about. Puffin's recipe sounds lovely, but a less antagonistic attitude might be less off-putting. Hard to do on the internet at times, I know. Most of us here try to be kind and understanding, and we also have to play with our food!
 
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Slow down everyone. Puffin gave a recipe that he or she thinks is great, obviously one of the best that she/he has tasted. The idea is that he/she wants to share something delectable with the rest of us, and feels that to alter the recipe would ruin the experience. I believe the intent was to make sure we could all experience the promise of something the same as what puffin experienced.
...
And everyone else, I think we need to remember that teh way something is written doesn't always portray the intent of the poster. Let's all give each other the benefit of the doubt.

Ordinarily I would agree with you, Chief. Recent comments by this particular poster, however, indicate otherwise.
 
Well I dislike mushrooms so the recipe was a non starter for me.

Also, if the onion is 'sweet' why place it in a water bath to get rid of the bitterness? I am in UK so maybe am not familiar with the kind of onions you get in US but red onions are milder than the common brown skinned ones. I guess you get those in US?

I was hoping to read that roasted veg might feature (e.g. peppers, courgettes, tomatoes etc). That would be my kind of vegetarian lasagna. They also make a great variation on ratatouille.
 
Well I dislike mushrooms so the recipe was a non starter for me.

Also, if the onion is 'sweet' why place it in a water bath to get rid of the bitterness? I am in UK so maybe am not familiar with the kind of onions you get in US but red onions are milder than the common brown skinned ones. I guess you get those in US?

We have yellow, red and white onions, plus other alliums. Sweet onions have less sulfuric acid, but they still have some. Rinsing cut onions removes some of it.

Vidalia onions are a type of sweet onion grown in Georgia. They have a high iron content because of the soil they're grown in: http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/06/...ts-how-to-cook-with-onions-guide.html#vidalia
 
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