Hearty vegetable lasagna

From Vegan for Everybody (ISBN 9781940352862) from America's Test Kitchen, with minor modifications and suggestions.

Ingredients

• 8 oz fresh cauliflower
• 1 1/2 cup raw cashews
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/2 cup olive oil, divided
• 2 tbsp fresh basil
• 1 lb eggplant
• 1 lb button mushrooms
• 1 lb zucchini
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 package no-boil lasagna noodles
• 45 oz jarred pasta sauce

Directions

For the ricotta filling

Cut cauliflower florets into 1/2-inch pieces (8 ounces, about 2.25 cups). This was one bunch of fresh cauliflower for me. Chop cashews.

Bring 3 quarts water to boil in a large saucepan. Add cauliflower florets, cashews and 2 teaspoons salt. Cook until cauliflower is very soft and falls apart easily when poked with a fork, about 20 minutes. Drain cauliflower mixture in colander and let cool slightly, about 5 minutes.

Process cauliflower mixture, 3 tablespoons olive oil, and 1/4 cup water in a clean, dry food processor until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, about 2 minutes. The mixture will be slightly grainy. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer 1/4 cup mixture to bowl and stir in 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil. This filling can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.

For the vegetables

Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees.

Chop eggplant into 1/2-inch pieces (I do not peel eggplant, but you can if the skin bothers you). Rinse and trim button mushrooms, then slice thinly. Cut zucchini into 1/2-inch pieces but keep separate from eggplant and mushrooms.

Mix eggplant, mushrooms, 2 tablespoons olive oil, garlic clove and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a bowl then spread on rimmed baking sheet.

Toss zucchini with 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1/4 teaspoon salt.

Roast eggplants and mushrooms until beginning to wilt, about fifteen minutes. Remove from oven, stir zucchini into vegetables and continue to roast, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are lightly browned, eggplant and zucchini are tender and most of the juices have evaporated, 15-20 minutes. Set aside.

Assemble the lasagna

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 13 x 9 baking dish. Spread 1 1/3 cup Tomato Sauce over bottom of dish. Arrange 4 noodles on top. Spread half of cauliflower filling over noodles, followed by half of vegetables. Spread 1 1/4 cups tomato sauce over vegetables. Repeat layering 4 noodles, remaining cauliflower filling, and remaining vegetables. Arrange 4 noodles on top and cover generously with tomato sauce.

Cover dish with aluminum foil and bake until edges are bubbling, about 45-50 minutes, rotating dish halfway through baking. Dollop lasagna evenly with 8-10 spoonfuls of reserved cauliflower topping and let cool for 25 minutes. Drizzle with oil, sprinkle with remaining tablespoon of chopped basil and serve.

Notes

The original recipe called for making your own tomato sauce, but I find that jarred tomato basil pasta sauce works very well. I used a little less than 2 jars. Obviously, if you are serving this recipe to vegans, be sure that the pasta sauce you use contains no animal products.