Meaty Lasagna with Homemade “Rinotta” cheese
I’ve heard of people making lasagna on Christmas but had never thought to make one myself. It wasn’t until The Maney, Roy, and LauRen Morning Show in Charlotte, NC had a whole discussion about it, that I decided to make one myself. Side note, I have been listening to Maney since he was still with Drex and Cassiday, and the MRL show is the best morning show by far. I listen to them on their podcast everyday because they are that entertaining. Here is their website if you are interested. Anyways, after their lengthy discussion on making a lasagna on Christmas, I realized it sounded good and I had never veganized a meaty, cheesy lasagna before. . This lasagna is right up Producer Nicole’s alley, but I could see the whole morning show loving this dish. 2020 needed a bright spot and I found it with this dish. I cut corners with the jarred sauce and no cook noodles, but the meat sauce and rinotta (vegan ricotta aka not ricotta) take some time to simmer/marry. You can always sub out the meat alternative and buy store brand rinotta (kite hill makes a great one) or make the sauce completely from scratch if you want. I want my recipes to be a guide for you to get inventive if you want to. There is always room to adjust these to accommodate your tastes and preferences. I won a contest on Instagram (a real one, not a War of the Roses bit) where I got a four pack of Essential Sauce from Otamot and one of them was even personalized! I’m obsessed with this sauce because it not only makes any dish delish, but it’s also actually good for you! Made with 10 vegetables, it has no added sugar or preservatives, is high in fiber, USDA organic, non-GMO, gluten free, and Whole30 approved. It is also naturally lower in acid than most sauces because of the variety of vegetables it contains. That’s according to their website and the taste isn’t compromised by being made from clean ingredients. Now you can get these at your local Whole Foods and Sprouts which is so nice, you don’t have to wait to get it shipped to you. As mentioned before, I am not a huge fan of vegan cheese heated up, it tends to take on a weird taste and texture I am not a fan of. It’ll never taste like dairy cheese melted so I’d prefer not to eat it that way at all. Because of this, I wanted to make a lasagna that wasn’t lacking in cheesy taste without having to use store bought shreds. I will say, finely grated Violife parmesan cheese is the only kind I really like heated up on food and that’s why I sprinkled it into this. Cashew cheese is such an easy staple to have on hand and can be put on anything including a spoon to shovel it right into my mouth. I found a lasagna recipe from The Edgy Veg where she used a vegan Bechamel sauce instead of regular cheese and I wanted to give it a try. You can find the link to the Bechamel sauce here, and it was a great addition to the dish. I loved how this meal tasted liked what I remember traditional meat lasagna to taste like, and I hope you like it as much as I do! I immediately wrote down all the ingredients because I wanted to be able to make this again and be able to share with you. Comment below what recipes you use to make lasagna, and if you make it on Christmas too.
Thanks for reading,
Jessica
Meaty Lasagna with Homemade "Rinotta" Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 12oz. pack of Impossible Meat (you can sub out whatever meat alternative you want to use here)
- 1 Tofurky Italian sausage (I diced mine because I was lazy, but you could use a food processor to grind it up)
- 2 16oz jars of Otamot Essential sauce and 1 jar of water to thin out the sauce (Replace with whatever sauce you have, but Otamot is awesome)
- 1 medium onion diced
- 6 cloves of garlic minced
- 2 TBS oil (I use Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
- 1 TBS Herbes de Provence
- 1 TSP garlic powder
- 2 TSP Savory Spice Blend
- ½ TSP Organic cane sugar
- 2 TBS chopped parsley
- 1 Bay Leaf
- 3 C Cashews (soaked in hot water for at least 2 hours, or overnight in room temp water)
- 1 ½ -2 C water (more or less for consistency)
- Juice of 2 medium lemons
- 2 TSP Savory Spice Blend
- 2 TSP Garlic powder (to taste)
- Fresh cracked pepper and sea salt
- 3 teaspoons of apple cider vinegar
- ¼ C Vegan Butter (I use Earth Balance)
- ¼ C Flour
- 4 C Cashew Milk (I used JOIOrganic Cashew Base to make mine)
- ¼ TSP Onion Powder
- ¼ TSP Garlic Powder
- ¼ TSP Savory Spice Blend
- ½ TSP Salt
- 2 TBS Nutritional Yeast
- 1 TBS Vegan Parmesan (I used Violife’s block of parm I grated)
- **I got the original idea for the Bechamel sauce from The Edgy Veg, I just made alterations to what went into it. Here is the linkto the original recipe and all the steps to complete it. I made this when the meat sauce was done because it is quick to make and requires constant attention.
- 1 Box of ready to use lasagna noodles (you can use the kind that need to be cooked first, I just wanted to cut down on things to cook)
- 1 16oz pack of frozen spinach (no need to cook or defrost, I just broke it up in a bowl and spread it on the layers directly)
- ½- ¾ C grated Violife Parmesan
- Parsley (garnish)
- 1 French Baguette or Ciabatta Baguette (I like TJ’s because they are cheap and organic)
- Vegan Butter (I like Earth Balance butter) use enough to cover however many pieces of toast you are making
- 1 Teaspoon-1 tablespoon Better Than Bouillon Roasted Garlic Base, again depending on how much of the baguette you make. A little goes a long way, but I like to spread it on top of the butter
- Sprinkle of Herbes de Provence, 21 seasoning salute, Savory Spice blend, and fresh cracked pepper on top
- 3 tablespoons of finely grated Violife parm (or alternative) depending on how many pieces you make
- Fresh parsley for garnish
Instructions
- The Rinotta should be made at least 2-3 hours before you make the lasagna, this way the cheese has some time to marry together. Start by soaking the cashews in boiling water for 2-3 hours or overnight in room temp water. Drain, rinse, and drop into blender or food processor. Add remaining ingredients, being careful not to add too much water. I start with about a cup and a half and move up to two cups as needed. You want it to be thick enough to resemble ricotta, but not too thick so you can spread it out easily. Set aside in sealed container in fridge when done.
- To start the sauce, add diced onion and minced garlic to oil on medium heat. Season with salt and pepper and stir occasionally while the onions cook. After 5 minutes or so, once the onions are translucent, add the impossible meat and chopped sausage to the pot. Stir well to get it all mixed around. I like to add the seasoning now minus the bay leaf and parsley, and make sure all the meat and onions are coated.
- Using a wooden spoon, break up all the meat, continuing to stir so all the meat gets evenly cooked and browned. Once that is done, add the two jars of essential sauce and jar of water to thin it out. Stir well, add parsley, and bay leaf, and bring to a boil. Once to a boil, lower heat to simmer and cover. Stir occasionally.
- I like to let the sauce simmer for a while, but if you are strapped for time, you could speed this up as long as the sauce is heated through.
- While the sauce simmers, I took the frozen spinach and place it in a bowl to break up all the pieces. I just stirred it occasionally to naturally defrost it. Set aside until ready. This is the time I would grate the parmesan cheese for the Bechamel sauce, layers, and garlic toast.
- Once I am happy with the length the sauce has cooked, I will start the Bechamel sauce. First, I made the cashew milk using my JOI organic cashew base. I then used the recipe instructions I got from The Edgy Veg and just added some ingredients based off my taste.Hereare the cooking instructions for the Bechamel sauce.
- Once the Bechamel sauce is done, I got all my ingredients out so assemble would be easy. I realized I had so much sauce and cheese, I used the largest cooking dish I had which was 12x9.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Start with a spritz of olive oil spray on the sides and bottoms of the baking dish. Spread some meat sauce out to cover the bottom of the dish all around. Put a layer of noodles down, I found the dish I used let me lay out five noodles for each layer. Next do a layer of meat sauce, covering all ends of the noodles but not too much where you run out before you are done. Next, I gently spoon out the rinotta cheese, using the back of the spoon to spread it out evenly. I would rinse my spoon off in between so I didn’t dirty the cheese still in the jar. Sprinkle grated parm all over. Using a large serving spoon, spread the frozen spinach all over. Last, slowly pour the Bechamel sauce around the dish. Next layer will be noodles, then you will continue with the remaining layers. One box of noodles was enough for the whole dish. Here are layers in order if that is helpful for you.
- Meat Sauce to coat dish
- Noodles
- Meat Sauce Layer
- Rinotta Layer
- Violife Grated Parm
- Spinach
- Bechamel Sauce
- Repeat
- I was able to do three layers of noodles and on the last layer of noodles, I just topped it with the meat sauce and finished with the Bechamel sauce.
- Loosely cover it with aluminum foil and cook for 30 minutes. Uncover and cook for an additional 15-20 minutes. I wanted the cheese sauce on top to start to brown and bubble. Once done, let sit for at least ten minutes so it can settle. While the lasagna rests, cut the baguette down the center, and cut them up into however many slices of toast you want make. I like to make each piece around six inches and give each person two pieces. Spread the butter and garlic base on all the pieces and sprinkle the seasoning and parmesan on each one. Cook the garlic toast for 6-9 minutes until golden brown.
Notes:
I made a side of organic frozen corn with a little vegan butter, salt and pepper, and garlic powder. This is optional as the lasagna is a lot on its own but was a nice addition to the meal. Keeps for up to a week in the fridge when covered, longer if frozen.
