Not sure what to do with some old sourdough bread? Here’s an original recipe from Isabel, our vegan baker.

This recipe came about as part of a Saturday tradition that involves using up as many leftover ingredients as possible after a (slightly overzealous) veggie shop at the farmer’s market. I had bought a large bunch each of Streamside Organics delicious beetroot and red onions, and was looking for a way to use up the greens of both, plus a forgotten, now quite hard loaf of Bellbird’s seeded sourdough. The cashew sauce was a later addition and is optional if you don’t have the cashews at home, but does make the dish more luscious.

Sourdough Lasagne Bake

Tomato lentil sauce:

• 5 cloves garlic
• 1 onion
• 2 stalks celery
• 1 1/2 cups red lentils
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 800g tinned or fresh tomato
• 70g tomato paste
• fresh or dried herbs
• dash of wine or vinegar

Cashew sauce:

• 1/2 cup cashews 
• 1 cup vegetable stock
• 1/2 tsp nutritional yeast

• large bunch of leafy greens
• roughly 2 cups onion greens 
• 1/8 tsp ground nutmeg

• About 1 loaf of old sourdough, cut into 0.5-1cm slices.

Method:

Dice and sauté garlic, onion and celery. Add lentils, stock, cinnamon, and tomato and simmer until lentils are tender. Stir through wine/vinegar and chopped herbs, season with salt and pepper to taste.

Place cashew sauce ingredients in a high-speed blender and blitz until smooth (if using a low-speed blender, soak the cashews in hot water for about 30 minutes before straining and blending). 

Chop the onion tops and leafy greens, including stalks, and fry in a hot pan until the leaves are just beginning to wilt. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg. 

The sliced bread should be enough to make up three full layers in your baking dish, plus 3-4 slices to decorate the top. 

To assemble the lasagne, line the base of your dish with the sliced bread (the small end crusts are good for filling any large gaps), cover with roughly three-quarters of the tomato lentil sauce, followed by another layer of bread. Spread the wilted greens over the bread and pour about three-quarters of the cashew sauce over this, followed by another layer of bread and the rest of the tomato lentil sauce. Finally, place the last 2-4 slices of bread on the top and cover with the rest of the cashew sauce. 

I like to top this with grated dairy free cheese and some smoked paprika powder before baking. 

Bake lasagne at 180°C for 30-40 minutes, depending on your oven. Keep an eye on the top and cover with a tray or aluminium foil if it is getting too dark. 

Like traditional lasagne, this dish is best reheated the next day as the bread will soften as it soaks up the sauces (and flavours!).