“This is the spring version of a traditional lasagne,” says Shannon Martinez. “It’s lighter, fresher and won’t send you into a coma. Feel free to use fresh pasta dough, spinach pasta dough (recipe below) or instant lasagne sheets.”
Ingredients
800g–1 kg mixed greens (I like to use silverbeet/Swiss chard, spinach or Tuscan kale)
60ml (¼ cup) extra-virgin olive oil
½ brown onion, finely diced
5 garlic cloves, minced
60g (¼ cup) vegan butter
50g (¹⁄³ cup) plain flour
70ml (2¼ fl oz) white wine
500ml (2 cups) vegan milk
500ml (2 cups) vegan chicken or vegetable stock
60g vegan parmesan
1 × quantity spinach pasta dough (recipe below) or any premade lasagne sheets
200g ricotta (recipe below)
Pesto
1 garlic clove
25g pine nuts, toasted
1 bunch of basil, leaves picked
150ml extra-virgin olive oil
20g vegan parmesan
Preheat the oven to 180˚C.
Blanch the greens, drain and then shock in a bowl of iced water.
Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a low heat and cook off the onion and garlic till lightly golden, then add the blanched greens. Season with salt and pepper and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside.
To make a bechamel sauce, in a large heavy-based saucepan, melt the butter over a medium heat. Add the flour and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour in the wine, continuing to stir constantly until the wine has almost completely evaporated. Remove from the heat, then slowly whisk in the milk and the stock, ensuring the consistency is as smooth as possible. Once all the liquid is incorporated, return to the stove over a low heat and gently simmer for 5 minutes, stirring regularly. Set aside.
To make the pesto, add the garlic and a pinch of salt to a mortar and use the pestle to pound into a paste. Add the pine nuts and roughly crush them before slowly adding in handfuls of the basil leaves until they are bruised. Slowly start adding in the olive oil, pounding as you go until you have a cohesive mixture. Add the parmesan and season to taste. Alternatively, you can blitz all the pesto ingredients except the oil in a food processor until a rough paste is formed, then slowly add the olive oil until you have a cohesive mixture.
Roll out the spinach dough into one long sheet 3mm thick. Cut to fit your desired baking dish – aim for 1 large sheet per layer. Blanch in salted boiling water for 30 seconds. Remove and lay out on a clean tea towel and lightly brush each side with olive oil. Repeat with the remaining sheets.
Line a 33 × 22 × 7cm baking dish with baking paper. Start assembling by laying down the first pasta sheet. Layer with the greens, bechamel sauce, parmesan, and dot with the ricotta, if using. Repeat layers until you have reached the top of the dish. Finish with a layer of bechamel. Cover with baking paper and foil and bake in the oven for 45 minutes to 1 hour. To check that it’s done, push a knife through the centre and if it goes through without resistance, it’s ready. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 10 minutes to set properly.
Whatever you don’t eat, freeze.
Vegan ricotta
“We’ve come a long way in the vegan cheese world in the last five years, but the good cheeses are still few and far between – and I say that living in a major city. So, I wanted to give you a fail-safe ricotta recipe that you can access 24/7 using ingredients you can even find at a gas station.”
Ingredients
1 litre (4 cups) soy milk
1 teaspoon salt flakes
a few cracks of white pepper
60ml (¼ cup) white-wine vinegar
extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling (optional)
sea salt flakes, to taste (optional)
Heat the soy milk in a saucepan over a medium heat until bubbles begin to form around the side of the pan – don’t let it simmer or boil. Turn off the heat, add the salt and pepper and slowly pour in the vinegar.
Gently pass a spatula or spoon through the milk only a few times. Leave to sit for 1 hour.
Line a sieve with a piece of muslin (cheesecloth), or any thin cloth, and set the sieve over a bowl. Pour the milk into the sieve, then refrigerate and leave to drain for at least 12 hours, preferably overnight.
Remove the ricotta from the cloth and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Spinach pasta dough
“If you have a food processor, this is one of the easiest things to make. Do it. Use that oversized, useless machine taking up space on your kitchen counter.”
Makes approximately 575g
250g 00 flour, plus extra for dusting
1 bunch of spinach, stalks removed (approx 325g)
pinch of salt
Wash the spinach well in cold water, then dry completely either in a salad spinner or between tea towels.
Put the flour in a food processor then add the spinach leaves and salt.
Blitz for a few minutes. It will start off quite powdery, then begin to come together, so don’t be tempted to add water. It will take a few minutes.
Once it has formed a ball, remove the lid and feel the dough. If it feels soft and holds together, it’s ready. If it’s a little dry and crumbly, add a little more spinach or a drizzle of water and blitz again.
Dust your bench with the extra flour, or semolina, and tip the dough out and knead for 5–7 minutes. It will feel quite stiff at first, so knead until it becomes smooth and elastic.
Cover in plastic wrap and let it rest for at least 30 minutes. (This can be done up to 1 day in advance.)
Once you’re ready to cook, cut the dough into three pieces. Start by feeding one piece through the widest setting of your pasta roller. Make sure to dust the dough well with flour so that it doesn’t stick.
Roll it through once, then fold the dough in half on itself and pass it through again. Lower the dial settings, one step at a time, until you get the thickness of your choosing. Pasta rollers will vary, so I’m giving directions for a common-style Mercato Atlas bench roller. If you have something different, just play around and use your best judgement.
For spaghetti, roll to dial three or four; fettuccine, five or six; lasagne sheets, roll to dial three, and for filled pastas like ravioli, roll to dial six or seven depending on the size of your filled pasta. Ultimately, it’s up to your personal preference, so have a play. If you find that you’ve rolled it too thin, just fold the sheet back over itself and pass through on a slightly higher setting.
Once you have achieved your desired thickness, cut the pasta according to the shape you’re making. For spaghetti, add the cutting attachment and pass it through. Dust the cut pasta with more flour and place in little bundles on the bench. If you’re making lasagne or filled pasta, leave as is and cut to your desired lengths.
To cook, bring a large saucepan of heavily salted water to the boil. Fresh pasta doesn’t take long to cook. Depending on the thickness it will be anywhere between 2–5 minutes. Basically, when it floats, it’s ready. Be sure not to overcook, as overcooked fresh pasta is rubbish.
Vegan Italian Food by Shannon Martinez (Hardie Grant, RRP $45) is out now and available at excellent independent Victorian bookshops, such as Readings, Hill of Content, Paperback Bookshop and Books for Cooks.