Mediterranean Roasted Vegetable Lasagne | Vegetarian

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A few weeks ago, I made this Easy Lasagne, which I think is such a homely, comforting meal! Lasagne is great for making in large quantities and serving a crowd of people or stocking up the freezer for meal prep.
Of course, a meat lasagne would obviously not be suitable for vegetarians – so that needed fixing! Hence why I decided to change up my other recipe and make this Mediterranean Roasted Vegetable Lasagne! Now suitable for vegetarians!

Check out the Video here:

Mediterranean Roasted Vegetable Lasagne

I absolutely LOVE Mediterranean vegetables: Onions, all colours of peppers, courgettes, aubergines, juicy tomatoes… I buy Mediterranean-style veggies every single week and use them up in a variety of different meals! Be it in a vegetable and rice stir fry, served with bulgur or added to a tomato pasta sauce! I just love them!

For this recipe, I used red onion (caramelise beautifully when you roast them), courgette, aubergine and peppers. The great thing about this Roasted Vegetable Lasagne is that you can add and use up whatever vegetables you may have lying around! For example, I also threw in a few mushrooms I had leftover!

Roasting the vegetables before adding them to the tomato sauce really helps bring out their flavour and the juices are a fantastic addition to the sauce! I really recommend roasting the vegetables beforehand (you can just roast them whilst preparing everything else) but if you are short for time you could just add them to the sauce immediately…

I use an additional white onion in the tomato sauce and also add some garlic and chilli to it! To make the tomato sauce even yummier, I also like to add a few sprigs of fresh rosemary, as well as some dried bay leaves (just remember to remove them before layering the lasagne!).

White/Béchamel Sauce – A must in every Lasagne

White sauce, also known as Béchamel sauce, is an absolute must in a lasagne! Béchamel sauce is a great base for any kind of pasta sauce and should be something everybody knows how to make!

For more general information on how to make a Béchamel sauce, check out this post here!

Just like I did for my Easy Lasagne recipe, when making the white sauce I like to start by infusing the milk with some bay leaves and onion. Just to add that extra layer of flavour! I then use the infused milk to make my Béchamel sauce, and season that generously with salt, pepper and my personal favourite: Ground nutmeg!

A freezer-friendly Recipe – Great for Meal Prep!

This Mediterranean Roasted Vegetable Lasagne is ideal for meal prep! Leave any leftovers to cool completely, before putting individual portions of lasagne into Tupperware! The lasagne can be kept in the fridge for 2-3 days and can be frozen for a later date, too!

Once ready to eat, simply defrost (if frozen), transfer onto a microwave-safe plate and microwave on high for 3-4 minutes until piping hot! And then you are good to go! Quick and easy dinner – perfect for a night where you cannot be bothered cooking!

More Recipes

For more cooking inspiration, why not check out some of my other recipes? I have listed some of my favourites below:

• Chicken, Sweet Potato and Spinach Curry
• Vegan Mixed Bean Chilli
• Chicken, Red Pepper and Avocado Wraps
• Homemade Sourdough Pizza
• Curried Cauliflower and Chickpea Pilaf
• Crispy Aubergine and Red Lentil Dhal
• 2-Ingredient Naan Bread

Mediterranean Roasted Vegetable Lasagne

Recipe

Ingredients:

FOR THE ROASTED VEGETABLE TOMATO SAUCE:

• 1 medium courgette
• 1 medium aubergine
• 3 peppers (I used one red, orange and yellow)
• 1 red onion
• Handful of mushrooms (optional)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• Salt, pepper
• 1 tbsp dried (or fresh) mixed herbs
• ½ tbsp smoked paprika (optional)

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 white onion (plus the other half of the one used for the Béchamel sauce)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 red chilli, sliced
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• 400g chopped tomatoes
• 1 vegetable stock cube, dissolved in 300ml boiling water
• 3 sprigs fresh rosemary
• 3 bay leaves
• Salt and pepper, to season

FOR THE BÉCHAMEL SAUCE:

• ½ white onion
• 2-3 dried bay leaves
• 350-400ml milk
• 25g butter
• 25g flour
• Salt, pepper, ground nutmeg

TO ASSEMBLE:

• 9 dried lasagne sheets
• 125g mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
• 75g cheddar cheese, grated

YOU WILL ALSO NEED:

• Large roasting tray
• A box grater
• 1 large frying pan with a lid
• 1 small pot
• 25x21cm (roughly) oven-proof dish (like this one)

Method:

1. Start by preparing the milk for the Béchamel sauce. Pour the milk into a medium-sized saucepan, alongside half a peeled onion and 2 bay leaves. Carefully bring to the boil (be careful it doesn´t boil over). Then remove from the heat and set aside to infuse until needed.
2. Preheat the oven to 200°C and line a roasting or baking tray with tin foil.
3. Wash and chop the Mediterranean vegetables for the sauce into roughly 1.5cm cubes. Place the diced veggies onto your roasting tray, drizzle over a tablespoon of olive oil, generously season with salt, pepper, some dried mixed herbs and some smoked paprika powder, then use your hands to mix well until everything is well coated. Roast in the oven for 20-25 minutes until the veg starts to soften.
4. In the meantime, you can prepare the tomato sauce. Add a little bit more olive oil to a large frying pan and set over a low heat. Gently fry the onions for about 5-10 minutes until starting to soften and become translucent. Add in the garlic and chilli and cook for another minute or two.
5. Next, add the tomato purée and stir until everything in the pan is well coated. Cook for 2 minutes, then add in the chopped tomatoes, vegetable stock, bay leaves and sprigs of rosemary. Turn up the heat a little and bring the tomato sauce to a simmer. Cover with a lid and leave to cook until the roasted vegetables are ready.
6. Once the 20-25 minutes for the roasted vegetables are up, carefully transfer the veggies and their juices to the pan with the tomato sauce. Stir, then continue to simmer for a further 10 minutes or so whilst you prepare the Béchamel sauce.
7. Remove the onion and bay leaves from the milk and transfer the milk to a jug/or mug for now. You can then use the same pot you used to infuse the milk to make the sauce.
   Start by carefully melting the butter over a low heat, then add in all of the flour at once and stir into a thick paste (known as a roux). Cook the roux for about a minute to cook out the flour taste but be carefully not to brown it too much. Next, add a small amount of the milk and stir until completely incorporated into the roux. Repeat this until all of the milk is used up, stirring well between each addition, until you have a smooth sauce (more tips for making a Béchamel sauce here). Season to taste with a little ground nutmeg, salt and pepper.
8. Turn down the oven temperature to 180°C.
9. To assemble the lasagne, start by spooning in a third of roasted vegetable tomato sauce (don´t forget to remove the bay leaves and rosemary stalks) into the bottom of the oven-proof dish, followed by a layer of pasta, then béchamel sauce and then a few slices of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat this until you have 3 layers of pasta, finishing with a layer of white sauce and mozzarella. Sprinkle the grated cheddar over the top in an even layer.
10. Bake the roasted vegetable lasagne in the preheated oven for 40 minutes, until the pasta is cooked, the filling is bubbling and the top is a lovely golden brown colour.