Monday, February 9, 2009

Vegetable love!

This is some serious vegetable love. Homemade semolina flax lasagna noodles (heart shaped even!) layered with mushrooms, zucchini, kale and tofu basil "ricotta" with homemade sauce.

2 Mini heart shaped lasagnas:

6 pan sized heart shaped noodles
1/2 cup sauce
1/2 cup tofu ricotta
5 oz mushrooms sliced
1 small zucchini sliced
1/2 bunch kale (sauteed or steamed)

OK, now for the layering. Here's what I did for the hearts. In 2 spring form heart shaped pans, I put 1 TBS sauce in the bottom, then added a noodle, then a layer each of tofu ricotta, zucchini, mushrooms, kale, sauce. Repeat, then top with noodle and sauce. Bake 375 for about 30 minutes.
Release the spring form pan mold and gently remove from the base. Serve immediately.


I'm putting down the recipes for the ingredients as I made them, but there's enough for a whole pan of lasagna, not just the two cute little heart lasagnas.

Pasta dough:

2 1/4 cups semolina flour
2 Tbs flax seeds (ground) mixed with 6 Tbs water
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup water

Mix all ingredients together until a smooth ball is formed. Then knead for a few minutes. (I use the bread machine on dough cycle.) Then chill in the fridge for at least an hour (up to several days.) Roll out into thin sheets and boil a few minutes until al dente. I cut the heart shapes with the spring form pan I was using, then boiled them. The noodles will cook more when the lasagna cooks. I used a pasta machine, but this dough is pretty forgiving and you could easily roll it out with a rolling pin.

Sauce:
2-3 cloves garlic minced
½ to whole shallot or onion minced
1-2 TBS olive oil
1 big can whole tomatoes (or chopped or crushed)
¼ - 1/2 cup wine (optional)
1 -2 tsp Italian seasoning
1 -2 tsp Pizza seasoning (optional-I use Penzeys)
Up to 1 tsp salt to taste
Up to 2 TBS sugar to taste (less if tomatoes are already sweet)

Saute garlic and shallot in olive oil about 5 min.Cut up tomatoes (or squish with your fingers) and add to saute with all juices. Heat about 5 min Add wine, seasoning and cook at least another 5-10 min (or let simmer while you're putting together whatever else you're making). Taste sauce and add salt and/or sugar to taste.

Tofu Basil Ricotta:

1 package tofu (I use soft-there seems to be great debate on this, but I like it saucy)
2-3 TBS chopped basil (I used frozen)
1-2 TBS olive oil (optional)
1/2 tsp salt
2 TBS lemon juice
2 cloves garlic

Mash all together. I use a mini food processor.



Happy Valentine's Day!

20 comments:

Alisa said...

You are so creative! Very cool.

Anonymous said...

oh my veggie love!

that is veggie love overboard gone right !!!

Sigh if only I can have a piece of that.

Looks super yummy Jenn! Well done!

Jen Treehugger said...

They are AWESOME!
I'm making Lasgna tonight but it won't be as adorable as these creations!!
GO YOU!!!

Susan Voisin said...

I have got to get some springform, heart-shaped pans because my daughter would go crazy for this. It looks terrific! Thanks so much for entering it into the VL contest.

Sindy said...

Those look delicious AND cute! Perfect dinner for Valentine's...
You should submit this recipe to Holy Cow's event "It's A Vegan World (Italian)" too! Here's the link:
http://earthvegan.blogspot.com/2009/01/its-vegan-world-food-event.html

jessy said...

oooooooooh - they look amazing & oh-so tasty! i love these! thanks so much for the recipe, too! superhappyface! yay!

For the Love of Guava said...

Okay Lady...you're seriously setting the bar ridiculously high for all of our Valentine Day Dinners! Not fair! :) Those are so cute! That's some valentine themed yumminess I could definitely get behind!

Jen said...

woah, that's like so fancy! where did you get heart shaped springform pans?

Bianca said...

Oh awesome! I need to make some homemade noodles. Those sound healthy and look awesome....especially cause they're layered in little heart shapes. I love, love, love Valentine's day!

Sal - AlienOnToast said...

Those are so cute - hurrah for making your own pasta too!

Gina said...

Um...fanciness!!! They are beautiful, and sure look yummy too :)

Bethany said...

wow, that looks amazing. very romantic, too!

Joanna said...

honestly, will you marry me?!??! haha

i won't take no for an answer!

River (Wing-It Vegan) said...

I am in LOVE with your heart shaped lasagna! <3

J. Cathryn said...

That looks delicious!

What size pan did you use? It looks like a 4-inch one.

Jenn said...

Thanks for all your sweet comments!

I used 4" mini heart pans that I got a Chef Central.

http://www.chefcentral.com/product1.aspx?Product_ID=6562

¡Yo Soy Liz! said...

this is my kind of recipe--looks like it took hours to make but is actually quite simple. this would definitely win my heart!

Ruth Donnelly said...

These sound fabulous!

Qupid said...

That is awesome!! Now I'm going to be dreaming about heart-shaped vegan lasagna until the day it is finally mine... <3

myheartsingz said...

Thanks for your inspiration... Lovely! I had an emmense craving for mini heart shaped pans, so for my other Beloved cooks who went to purchase mini Springform pans, and couldn't find them at Cooking Central,(seasonal?) I sleuthed around and found some at Amazon:
Wilton Excelle Elite 4-Inch Heart Springform Pan - Wilton
http://www.amazon.com/review/R3NAXAK2M7M1EF/ref=cm_cr_pr_viewpnt#R3NAXAK2M7M1EF
$9 Celebrate!