Quorn Lasagne Recipe And Review

It almost seems cheating to review Quorn because actually we eat it a lot. I've been a vegetarian for the last 29 years, and to start with it was really tricky to find foods that fit in with modern busy life, everything required hours of preparation and cooking. Quorn is one of the best vegetarian convenience foods around. High in protein, low in fat and calories, quick to cook and incredibly versatile, we tend to eat Quorn as a family around twice a week.

There are loads of recipes on the Quorn website, I chose to test the Quorn Lasagne recipe.

Ingredients

• 500g Quorn mince
• 1 tbsp of olive oil (Unlike beef mince, Quorn Mince does not need to be cooked in oil, you can just add it into the sauce. So you only need 1tbsp of olive oil for this recipe)
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves of crushed garlic
• 100g mushrooms, sliced
• 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 3 tbsp red pesto
• 1 tsp oregano
• 3 tbsp red wine
• 1 vegetable stock cube
• 2 tbsp fresh basil, shredded
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 8-10 lasagne sheets
• 25g butter or margarine
• 25g plain flour
• 300ml milk
• 100g mature cheddar cheese, grated plus extra for topping
• salt and freshly ground black pepper or ground white pepper

I also included a small red pepper and a small green pepper in my mix for extra veg and colour.

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C, 400F, Gas Mark 6.
Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the onion and garlic for 5 minutes until softened.
Add the mushrooms (and in my case the peppers) and cook for a couple of minutes.
Stir in the Quorn mince and then the tomatoes, red pesto, oregano, wine and vegetable stock cube. Increase the heat and simmer gently for 5 minutes.
Stir in the basil, season to taste then remove from the heat.

Make the white sauce by melting the butter, stir in the flour and cook gently for a minute stirring constantly. Slowly add the milk and reheat until beginning to thicken. At this stage add the cheese, season to taste and simmer gently for 2 minutes.

I don't like cooked cheese, so I added a good helping of black pepper instead.

Spoon half of the mince mixture over the base of an ovenproof dish, top with lasagne sheets, repeat the layers, then pour over the cheese sauce and scatter with a little grated cheese. Again, my portion doesn't have any cheese.

 Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until the top is golden brown and bubbling.

Serve immediately with a green salad and garlic bread.

It was a hit, with everyone eating the lot. I tend to add a little chilli or paprika to my Quorn mince meals, but this was plenty tasty enough without. Quorn has a different texture and doesn't stick together in the same way as meat, but requires less liquid to cook, so the lasagne wasn't at all dry, and the pasta was nicely softened.

Quorn is really easy to use, excellent for people who are limiting calories and brilliant for people who aren't confident cooks. The mince and chunks can generally be used as a direct replacement for chicken, and beef or pork mince. My only complaint is that it contains egg, so isn't suitable for my Vegan friends.

I've posted many Quorn recipes on my blog, a selection of them are shown below -

Vegetarian Curry and Curry Pasties
Quorn And Vegetable Pie
Quorn Fillets with Crispy Cheese Coating
Creamy Quorn Penne
Sausage And Bean Casserole
Vegetarian Chilli (or pasta sauce if you like it less spicy)

If you aren't tempted by any of the recipes shown above, then there are even easier ready-made Quorn products available to buy in the fridge and freezer sections of the supermarket - including coated fillets, seasoned grills, burgers and pies!

I was sent vouchers for 3 free products in order to review.