Recipe: Green vegetable lasagne with cashew béchamel

Our cashews make the béchamel sauce in this vegan lasagne nice and creamy. You can substitute different vegetables in the dish according to the season. Recipe by Shabnam Rebo, The Hungry Warrior

Ingredients for 4 servings:

• 220 g broken or whole cashews
• 120 g frozen peas
• 130 g frozen spinach
• 200 g courgette
• 120 g French beans or green beans
• 150 g green asparagus
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 large red onion
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 2 tsp Italian herbs
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• Chilli to taste
• Salt, pepper
• Zest of 1⁄2 an organic lemon plus a little more for the cashew béchamel sauce
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• Freshly grated nutmeg or ground cinnamon to taste
• Salt, pepper
• 9 wholewheat lasagne sheets

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180°C on convection. Place the cashews in a bowl, pour boiling water over them and leave to soak.
2. Take the peas and spinach out of the freezer and allow to thaw slightly at room temperature.
3. Dice the courgette, cut the beans into 2 cm lengths, remove the woody ends of the asparagus and cut into 3 cm pieces. Set everything aside.
4. Finely dice the onion and mince the garlic. Lightly heat the olive oil in a pan and fry the onions over medium heat until they begin to brown. Then add the rest of the vegetables and sauté until al dente. Season with the Italian herb mix, ground coriander, chilli flakes, salt and pepper. Add the lemon zest and lemon juice and set aside.
5. For the cashew béchamel sauce, drain the soaked cashews and place them in a blender with 300 ml water, lemon zest and nutmeg. Blend until creamy. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
6. Grease a baking dish (20 x 30 cm) with a little olive oil and spread a few tablespoons of the cashew béchamel sauce on the bottom of the dish. Place 3 lasagne sheets in the dish. Add in half of the vegetable mixture followed by 1/3 of the sauce. Spread it out evenly. Place another 3 lasagne sheets over the sauce, add in the second half of the vegetables and another third of the sauce. Spread it out evenly. Finally, place the last 3 lasagne sheets over the sauce, top with the last of the sauce and spread it out evenly. Decorate with a few asparagus spears and peas if you like.
7. Cover the dish with aluminium foil and bake for about 20 minutes. Remove the foil and bake until the casserole is bubbling and golden brown on top.

Tip:

You can also make a wonderful autumn or winter version of this lasagne with seasonal vegetables such as beetroot, pumpkin, parsnips, parsley root, Jerusalem artichokes, sweet potatoes, curly kale or lacinato kale. You can also use garam masala or cinnamon instead of fresh herbs.