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Ingredients
Creamy Roasted Garlic Sauce
- 1 whole head Garlic set aside 2-3 cloves
- 1 cup Raw Unsalted Cashews preferrable soaked 2-3 hours
- 2 cups Vegetable Broth homemade or low-sodium store-bought
- 2 cups Unsweetened Almond Milk
- 3 tbsp Arrowroot Starch
- 3 tbsp Nutritional Yeast omit if you don’t have
- 1 tsp Kosher Salt or to taste
- Black Peppercorn to taste
- 4 sprigs Fresh Thyme
Lasagna
- 2-3 cloves Garlic from above minces
- 2-3 Leeks
- 2 bunches Asparagus about 600 g
- 1 box Baby Spinach about 283 g
- 1 box No-boil Lasagna Sheets Gluten-free or Regular
- Avocado Oil for sauteing
- Kosher Salt to taste
Instructions
- Soak the cashews in about 2 cups of water for 2-3 hours (feel free to do this overnight if it is more convenient). Rinse well, drain and set aside. See headnotes regarding soaking.
- Preheat oven to 450f. Pull out 2-3 cloves of garlic off the bulb and set that aside (those will be minced to sauté the leeks). Cut across the tip of the garlic bulb so the tops of the cloves are exposed. Sprinkle a bit of salt on top and wrap the head of garlic in a piece of foil. Roast in the oven for 45 minutes (yes, I don’t bother with any oil for this). Meanwhile, prep the veggies.
- Mince the 2 or 3 garlic cloves that was set aside. For the leeks, cut off the dark green part (save for making stock), keeping the white and palest green portion. Trim the end off and cut the leek in half lengthwise. Rinse under running water to clean off any soil between the layers. Cut crosswise into ½” pieces. For the asparagus, snap the woody ends off and cut into 1-1.5” long pieces. (For garnishing the top of the lasagna, I kept 3 stalks whole but that is optional). For the thicker stalk pieces, further cut them lengthwise in half.
- Make the creamy roasted garlic sauce by placing all the sauce ingredients, except the thyme sprigs, into a blender. Once the roasted garlic is done and cooled to touch, hold it upside down and squeeze the soft cloves out of the skins into the blender as well. Blend until very smooth. Pour into a medium sized pot, throw in the thyme sprigs now and bring to a gentle simmer (but notboil) for 5 minutes or until noticeably thickened. Taste it! How salty you sauce tastes depends on the salt content of the broth you use. Season with more kosher salt and black pepper as needed – it should definitely taste salty since the lasagna noodles and veggies will absorb the sauce as it cooks. Set aside.
- If your no-boil lasagna noodles require soaking, do this now. (Mine requires a 10-minute soak in hot water).
- Meanwhile, preheat a skillet over medium heat. Once hot, drizzle some oil and sauté the leeks with a pinch of kosher salt for 8-10 minutes to sweat it down. Add minced garlic and continue another 2 minutes. Set aside. Add a tiny drizzle of oil and toss the spinach leaves in there a few turns until just barely wilted (you may need to do this in two batches). Once comfortable to touch, use your hands to gently squeeze out most of the excess water, but it doesn’t need to be completely dry. Set aside.
- Preheat your oven to 375f. We are ready to assemble. Begin layering the ingredients in your lasagna pan, starting with about ½ cup of sauce spread evenly to cover the bottom to prevent sticking. Place a layer of noodles then begin alternating sauce, sautéed leeks, wilted spinach, raw asparagus pieces, and again noodles, etc. until everything is used up. I save only a small amount of the veggies to sprinkle on the top. If you kept any whole asparagus stalks, lay them down on the top.
- Cover and bake for 30-35 minutes. Uncover and bake for another 8-10 minutes.Allow lasagna to rest 10 minutes, then serve.