Book of Yum

Lately I’ve been in the mood for homemade pasta, and went through a lovely homemade pumpkin ravioli phase. Then I started thinking that it had been quite a while since I last made homemade lasagna with fresh noodles. The last time I did, I discovered my favorite cheese substitute- pine nut ricotta. But usually when I go to all the trouble to make pasta from scratch and use our pasta machine, I turn it into ravioli. This time I thought it would be fun to deliberately go all out and make a roasted pumpkin, vegan lasagna. My Mom’s visiting, and although she’s not gluten-free, she does try to limit her carbs and she is soy and dairy intolerant, so I thought it would be nice to make a “cheezey” lasagna for her. The resulting lasagna was quite delicious. I made two versions of this recipe- one, the vegan Mom-friendly recipe, and another non-vegan recipe (see photo, left) for me and DH, using ricotta instead of the vegan bechamel sauce and the pine nut “ricotta.” They were both good, but you know, I almost think that I enjoyed the vegan lasagna the most. Mom has a garlic allergy, so I avoided using garlic, but next time I think that I’d add some slow roasted, mashed garlic to the pumpkin… Mmmm… So who says you can’t enjoy lasagna when you’re dairy-free, soy-free, and gluten-free? Nobody in our house! Why not try your own allergy friendly lasagna today?

Tips on making pasta by hand: This time I ditched the pasta machine and rolled out my pasta by hand. First I tried rolling it out on wax paper, and found it just plain messy. The wax paper got all soggy and stuck to the lasagna sheets, and had to be painstakingly peeled off. Yum! Then I tried rolling it out between gallon sized plastic bags (a la store-brand Ziploc). Success! Easy to remove, especially when I dusted the surface on both sides carefully with cornstarch. Once I made the noodles, I had a problem- where to store them! I made a makeshift pasta drying rack by placing a drying rack on top of a large pot and then draping each noodle over two rungs. Perfect! When I boiled the pasta, there wasn’t quite enough room so some of the pasta ended up getting crinkled when I rinsed it post boil. Try to reserve your boiled noodles in a layer somewhere where they can stay nice and flat.

Looking for more gluten-free vegetarian lasagna recipe inspiration? Try these other recipes…
Rachel’s Dairy-Free Lasagna
Ginger Lemon Girl’s Pumpkin Lasagna (Dairy)
Lasagna Vegetariana by the Gluten Free Goddess (Dairy)

Other Recipes with Homemade Gluten-Free Pasta at the Book of Yum:
Vegan Pine-Nut ‘Ricotta’ Lasagna
Pumpkin Ravioli done two ways (Vegan and Non V)
Fresh herb gluten-free Ravioli

Pumpkin Lasagna, dairy free, soy free Main Course  Pasta  Italian

Ingredients 1 recipe homemade Bette Hagman pasta OR other GF pasta* 1 small fresh pumpkin, cleaned, de-seeded, in thick slices poultry seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder, salt, pepper olive oil 1 portobello mushroom, sliced fresh spinach leaves Bolognese Sauce: 1 onion chopped 2 garlic cloves, chopped 2 carrots, grated 3 tbsp. olive oil 1 can (14 oz. tomatoes, chopped) 2 tbsp tomato paste 2 cups vegetable stock 1 tsp. marjoram salt and pepper Bechamel Sauce: scant 1/2 cup flavorful GF flour (brown rice, chickpea, etc.) 3 tbsp margarine 2 1/2 cup rice (almond or soy, if not intolerant) milk bay leaf salt, freshly ground pepper fresh nutmeg, grated Pine Nut not-Ricotta 1 cup raw pignoli nuts, soaked in water for at least 1 hour 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1 tablespoons nutritional yeast 1/2 teaspoon sea salt (or less- this was a little salty for our taste) Directions Boil your homemade pasta until aldente, blanch and reserve. Take your sliced pumpkin and lay it on a dark colored baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and seasonings (From poultry to pepper). Bake at 375 for 30 minutes or so- until pumpkin is cooked and appealingly roasted. Mash lightly and reserve. Sautee your portobello mushroom slices in olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Chop and reserve. Start your bolognese sauce by sauteeing your onion and garlic in olive oil. Then add your grated carrots and cook for about five minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for at least twenty minutes. Make your bechamel sauce by combining ingredients and let the mixture come to a low boil, whisking constantly until sauce is thickened. Simmer for a few minutes with bay leaf and seasonings and then reserve. To make your pine nut ricotta, combine all ingredients in a small food processor (bowl insert works well) and combine with a LITTLE water until you have a nice thick creme with as few lumps as possible. To make lasagna, layer your ingredients as follows: pasta, bolognese, bechamel, pasta, pumpkin, pine nut ricotta, spinach, pasta, bolgnese, bechamel, mushroom, pasta etc. Make sure when you put on your last pasta sheet to end with the pine nut ricotto on the very top. You can add chopped mushrooms or whole pine nuts to the top layer as garnish if desired. Bake at 375 for 30-45 minutes or until top is attractively browned and/or you can’t wait any longer. Enjoy! Notes This recipe is easily vegan if you use a prepared GF lasagna like Debolles brown rice no-boil lasagna or Ener-g Foods or Tinkyada lasagna. This lasagna is yummy but the pumpkin is slightly overshadowed by the (yummy) bolognese sauce. I might try it sans tomatoes next time so the pumpkin can really shine through.

Rating:  8 Original Source:  Combination of various recipes and my own ideas, do not replicate anywhere without my permission Recipe ID:  1160 Added:  November 21, 2007 Last Modified:  November 24, 2007

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