Gluten free, dairy free lasagne

For my cooking contribution for the boys this week, I made gluten free, dairy free lasagne. It was inspired by this recipe, but with my sous chef Craig helping out, it took on a life of its own and became our unique take on it.

I was really dubious how this lasagne would turn out - especially with soy cheese! - but it was actually very nice. It is a little different to ordinary lasagne with bechamel sauce, but is still very much worthy of the name "lasagne" - and there's no tofu in it!

It is also healthier than normal lasagne, due to the lack of dairy and bechamel sauce. It's definitely a dish to consider if you love lasagne but are worried about the fat.

Our recipe is as follows:

9 sheets gluten free lasagne
1 jar gluten free tomato sauce (we used Craig's homemade sauce)
500g mince (we used beef mince)
1 chopped capsicum
1 chopped brown onion
1 chopped carrot
110g non-dairy cheese (we used soy cheese with chives)
100ml soy milk
1 tablespoon non-dairy spread (we used Nuttelex)
1-2 tablespoons cornflour
cold water to make a paste with the cornflour
hot water to soften lasagne sheets


Preheat your oven to 190 degrees Celsius.

Put the lasagne sheets in a bowl with a glug of oil, and pour over hot water sufficient to cover the sheets. Leave the lasagne sheets to soften in the water, then drain.

Brown the onion in a frypan. Add the mince, and cook until the mince is browned. Add the remaining vegetables, and cook, stirring, until the vegetables are soft. Add the tomato sauce, and cook, stirring, until the sauce has heated through and coated all the other ingredients. Remove from the heat.

Grate the soy cheese and set aside.

In a small saucepan, add the milk and non-dairy spread, and stir over medium heat until the spread has melted. In a small bowl or cup, mix the cornflour with just enough cold water to make a paste, then pour into the milk, stirring continuously to avoid lumps. Add the grated cheese, then bring the sauce to the boil, and simmer until it has thickened. Remove from the heat. If the mixture doesn't thicken sufficiently, just add more cornflour paste.

Layer the base of a 9" x 13" pan with lasagne sheets. Spoon one third of the mince on top, and one third of the sauce on top of that. Repeat another two times.

Place the lasagne in the oven, and bake for ~35 minutes. Allow to sit for 10 minutes out of the oven before slicing and serving.