I had been wanting to try out my new cookbook - Veganomicon - and was immediate attracted by the idea of making their moussaka with pine-nut cream but couldnt for the life of me understand why a vegan moussaka wouldnt have lentils - layered potato & aubergine am sure is very tasty, but without protien its almost a side dish and a bit of wasted effort. Having made a vegetarian version moussaka before I thought Id mix and match- using the base inspired by Delia (with lentils thank you very much) and their luscious pine-nut cream in place of bechemal. The best thing about this is that it is ultimately very easy indeed. Apparently arrowroot powder is out of stock all over the place, but any thickening agent would seem to do here. This idea of a vegan 'cream' is very exciting to me, I can see a few applications and to be honest, once its baked, I dont think you'd be able to tell the difference. My omnivore thought it was delicious and was happily despatched with leftovers for lunch this morning. It took about 35 mins to prepare and then around an hour until you can eat it.
Makes 6 generous servings
250Gg Puy lentils, or a mix of puy, brown & green lentils
500ml stock
2 aubergine, diced into 2cm cubes
3 tablespoons olive oil, preferrably taken from the sun dried tomatoes
2 onions, finely chopped
1 yellow zucchini or a red/green/orange pepper, chopped small
3 - 4 cloves of dried garlic, crushed (to taste)
200ml red wine
3 tablespoons sun-dried tomato puree (from a jar of oiled sun-dried tomatoes) or 4 of tomato paste
1 tsp ground cinnamon
3 tblsp chopped parsley
Pine-nut cream
80 - 100g pine nuts
1 pkg silken tofu
lemon juice, to taste (about 1 lemon)
fresh nutmeg
1 tsp flour (or arrowroot or cornflour)
First, mix the diced aubergine with salt and leave to drain in a colander for 30mins while you do the rest of the work. Then squeeze out excess liquid in kitchen roll or a teatowel.
Stick the lentils on to cook - 30mins for the brown & green (just add the puy to these after 15mins if using a mix or cook for 15 if just using puy)
In a large pan fry the onions in a tablespoon of oil until golden brown (about 5 mins) then add the zucchini and cook for a minute or two. Then stir in the garlic and cook for 1min. Reserve.
Wipe the pan out and then add the rest of the oil, fry the aubergine until beginning to brown.
Now chuck in the drained lentils, the zucchini & onion mix, and the wine, simmer for a bit, then add the rest of the ingredients and season to taste - I dont use any salt, the aubergines should have plenty, but feel free to.
While the lentils are simmering, prepare the topping by whizzing all the ingredients in a food processor for a minute, until combined. It should be smooth with a few chunks of pine nut. For a smoother cream, process the nuts first.
To assemble pop the lentil mix into a rectangular casserole (I used 23 x 9 and the slices were nice and thick)
Then spread with a think layer of the pine-nut cream.
Bake in a 180degree oven for around about 55 minutes - it will be ready when the top is nicely browned and cracks are beginning to appear.
Rest for 10mins before slicing and serving with something green.
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