Vegetarian Lasagne with Lentils

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To call lasagna a classic is almost an understatement: similar dishes with layered pasta can be found in the oldest known Roman cookbook from the fourth (!) century. The dish is still very popular today - and rightly so, in my opinion.

As well as variations with minced beef, you can easily make a vegetarian version with vegetable bolognese. This article gives a basic recipe using lentils and some spinach, but you can also use other vegetables such as mushrooms.

Lasagna can also be chilled and reheated the next day - sometimes it’s even better then…

Recipe #

Vegetable Lasagna with Lentils

60 minutes

4 portions

Ingredients #

For the vegetable Bolognese

• 1 onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 carrot
• 150 g celery (1-2 stalks)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 75 g frozen spinach
• 3 tbsp tomato puree
• 100 ml red wine
• 250 g red lentils
• 600 ml tinned tomatoes (1.5 cans)
• 1 tbsp dried vegetable stock
• 1 teaspoon of thyme
• 1 teaspoon of oregano
• 1 teaspoon of rosemary
• 2 g salt
• 2 g pepper

For the béchamel sauce

• 40 g butter
• 40 g flour
• 625 ml milk
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1 pinch of pepper
• 1 pinch of nutmeg

For the lasagna

• 250 g lasagna sheets
• 1 ball of mozzarella
• 80 g grated cheese

Directions #

1. Chop the ingredients for the Bolognese sauce: Peel and chop the onions, garlic and carrots. Wash and chop the celery.
2. Heat the oil in a frying pan and sauté the onions, then the garlic and finally the diced carrots and celery. Cook for about 3 minutes, then add the frozen spinach. Add the tomato puree and sauté briefly, then add the red wine.
3. Add the red lentils to the pan and deglaze with the tinned tomatoes and a little water. Add the vegetable stock, thyme, oregano, rosemary, salt and pepper to taste. Cover the pan and simmer on a low heat.
4. Make the béchamel sauce: Heat the butter in a pan and add the flour. Cook for about 1 minute, stirring gently with a whisk to prevent lumps forming. Slowly add the milk and butter and whisk to form a sauce. Season to taste with salt, pepper and nutmeg.
5. Layer the lasagna in an ovenproof dish: Start with a layer of vegetable bolognese on the bottom. Add the lasagna sheets, then the béchamel sauce, then another layer of Bolognese. Add a layer of thinly sliced mozzarella around the lasagna. Continue layering until the top layer is once again the lasagna sheets with the béchamel sauce on top. Sprinkle the grated cheese on top.
6. Bake in a fan oven at about 180°C for about 30 to 45 minutes until the cheese is golden brown.

Carbon Footprint #

In total, two portions of vegetable lasagna have an estimated carbon footprint of 2022 g.

This ranks it number 41 out of 56 recipes published on the blog so far in terms of estimated carbon footprint.

This is significantly lower than the carbon footprint of lasagna with minced beef (4702 g, i.e. more than twice as much)!

When it comes to ingredients, butter and cheese stand out: Together they make up about 12% of the weight of the ingredients, but about 40% of the estimated carbon footprint! On the other hand, the vegetables (onions, carrots, celery, spinach, lentils) and the lasagna plates have a relatively good carbon footprint.

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