Today we are making a white cauliflower lasagna. It’s literally overflowing with cauliflower as I used a whole head… ;) It’s so delicious that you won’t even believe it’s vegan!

When I was creating this lasagna in my head I was thinking of ways to add more cauliflower flavor. And so i came up with a cauliflower béchamel, a cauliflower sauce and I added some more cauliflower florets on top. If this doesn’t scream cauliflower then I don’t know what will. I didn’t but you could add some greens into the layers like spinach or kale for som added greens and vitamins. But I chose to add some vegan bacon bits on top instead. it’s about balance and I really wanted this lasagna to be decadent.

The photo almost doesn’t do it justice, as it looks a little dry but really it isn’t. Inbetween those pasta layers there is a rich and creamy cauliflower sauce and bechamel. And ofcourse a good amount of vegan parmesan to finish it off! There isn’t a lasagna in my books without vegan parmesan. And you know what parmesan I’m talking about. If not check it out here

Now I know how annoying it is to scroll endlessly to find the recipe on a blogpost so I’m finisihing the talking here and let’s jump straight into the recipe!

recipe

This serves 6 people

Ingredients

1 big head of cauliflower
olive oil
salt and pepper
60 gr of raw cashews
1 liter of vegetable stock
1 liter of vegan unsweetened milk
a pinch of nutmeg
2 tbs of vegan butter
2 heaping tbs of flour
1 pack of lasagna sheets
vegan gondino parmesan, as much as you want ;)

Instructions

Start by bringing the vegetable stock to a boil and preheat the oven to 180°C.
Wash and cut the cauliflower into florets.
Place half of the cauliflower florets on a baking sheet lined with baking paper.
drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
Roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Remove and set aside.
Meanwhile: add the other half of the cauliflower florets in the vegetable stock and cook until soft. And melt the butter in a pot.
Add the flour to the melted butter and whisk to form roux.
Keep whisking for a few seconds then add the milk, little my little.
Whisk continuously, this way you’ll have a smooth bechamel.
Season with salt, pepper, nutmeg and add a little cooking water from the cauliflower.
Once you’ve added half of the milk, let it heat through. Add more milk if the bechamel becomes too thick. It shoud be pretty runny as it will thicken even more in the oven. I like to test this with the back of a spoon. The bechamel should drip of the spoon pretty quickly but it has to still coat the spoon with a thin layer.
Once done, add a good amount of grated vegan parmesan to it. I used approx. 100 gr. Use less or more to your taste. Whisk and set aside.
Strain out the cooked cauliflower from the vegetable broth, keep the broth to thin out the sauce.
Add the cooked cauli to a blender, along with the cashews and 200 ml of the broth.
Blend until completely smooth. You might need to add some more broth to help the blender along. The sauce should have the consistency of thick soup.
Season to taste.
Once the sauce and bechaml is ready, it’s time to assemble the lasagna:
Add a layer of cauliflower sauce,followed by a layer of bechamel to the bottom of a baking dish.
Add a layer of pasta and follower with another layer of cauli sauce.
Add another layer of pasta and follow with a layer of bechamel.
Repeat this layering, alternating between sauce and bechamel until the dish is almost full.
Leave some room on top for the cauliflower.
Finish with a layer of cauli sauce and place the baked cauliflower on top.
drizzle over the remaining sauce and bechamel and bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until the pasta is cooked through.
Buon appetito!