Saturday, 5:32 p.m: Erik and I are scurrying out the door after a desperate, last-minute blast of my baked brie at 440 degrees (not 450, which feels like a ridiculous heat at which one would cook a pizza, but higher than 400, which wasn’t doing the trick to brown the pie crust fast enough) when a sense of déjà vu washes over me. “Weren’t we about this late last year?”
Sure enough, we arrived at his classmate’s apartment just in time to get a thorough earful from his friend since yes, we were about this late last year. And so we walked into the crowd of people eagerly awaiting the gorgeous Friendsgiving spread, once again the very last ones to arrive.
Hiiiiiiiii.
Nothing can really excuse being that late, even when you come bearing baked brie and sweet potatoes with a nut crumble and toasted marshmallows on top. But! The good news is that the lovely Renee of Will Frolic for Food is hosting this virtual Friendsgiving potluck, thus granting me an opportunity to redeem myself with lasagna. Thank goodness the internet doesn’t require punctuality.
This virtual Friendsgiving is held in celebration of this wonderful salt from J.Q. Dickinson—magically wonderful salt that is hand-harvested from an ancient sea in West Virginia by passionate salt folks (or should I say artists?). It’s amazing stuff: a brilliant pure white with shatteringly clean flakes that make for happy pinching. You can watch a cool video here about their story!
Even though it’s technically a finishing salt, I couldn’t resist using it in all steps of this lasagna, where it turned out to be the perfect complement—salt is key to concentrating the sweetness in piles of caramelized onions and peppers, seasoning a creamy goat cheese-spinach mixture, and perking up the quinoa crepe-like rounds that stand in for pasta.
It managed to enhance the flavors without making the lasagna overly salty, a common complaint I have about lasagna. This lasagna, by the way, resulted from a failed attempt at quinoa calzones that turned into hey hello perfect lasagna layers!! Thin, crepe-like rounds of quinoa batter make for delicious “pasta” layers that absorb flavors well, particularly when situated in a flavorful sauce. The veggie filling was actually kind of a fridge-cleaning project to get rid of some wilting bell peppers and a nearly-full jar of pasta sauce, but the combination of spinach, bell pepper, onion and a random assortment of cheeses in my fridge turned out well (though you could really substitute almost any vegetable instead)! If you’re pondering a good vegetarian entree for Thanksgiving (or anytime really), keep this show-stopping entree in consideration!
However, putting together this lasagna is truly a labor of love, so fair warning: this lasagna is best assembled on a lazy day when you just feel like spending a lot of time doing some low-key cooking and hanging out.
Check Renee’s wonderful blog for J.Q. Dickinson-related giveaways all this week! I’m also giving away a 1 oz jar of this J.Q.D salt; to enter the giveaway, just leave a comment on this post. If you can’t wait (I don’t blame you), get yourself some here! If you have any serious cooking aficionados in your life, this organic, sustainably harvested salt is a perfect gift—a 3.5 oz jar runs under $10 and you can also find all sorts of salt swag in their online shop.
I loved this salt so much, I made another Thanksgiving-ish recipe with it that I’ll post tomorrow in case you still have room on your Thanksgiving menu dance card!
Check out recipes from other Friendsgiving folk here:
The Faux Martha |The Bojon Gourmet | Bread and Barrow | Broad Appetite |Dolly and Oatmeal | Dunk & Crumble | Earthy Feast | Ginger and Toasted Sesame | Glazed and Confused | Hummingbird High | Lexi’s Clean Kitchen | London Bakes | Mabel and the Wooden Spoon | One Part Plant | Food Loves Writing | Heartbeet Kitchen
Vegetarian Quinoa Lasagna
Ingredients
- 1 cup white quinoa
- 1 cup water
- ¼ teaspoon each: dried basil oregano, garlic powder (optional, use whatever spices you prefer)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- few grinds pepper
- Olive oil
- 1 giant onion or 2 medium about 4 cups once sliced
- 2.5 bell peppers
- 2 packages frozen spinach defrosted
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- ½ cup ~4 oz goat cheese
- 2.5 cups your favorite tomato sauce (prepared or something like this
- 5 oz. gruyere cheese shredded (or any white cheese of your choosing)
- 1/4 cup parmesan grated or shredded
Instructions
- Soak the quinoa in water for at least an hour, up to overnight. Drain and rinse the soaked quinoa thoroughly before blending in a high-powered blender with 1 cup of water. Add spices, salt and pepper and blend until smooth.
- Heat a 8 or 9-inch pan over medium heat and grease with a small amount of olive oil. Add quinoa batter ½ cup at a time; swirl to coat the bottom of the pan. Cook for about 1-2 minutes on each side, until it puffs slightly and you can easily slide a spatula underneath. Flip and cook for another 1-2 minutes. Repeat with the rest of the batter (this should make about five rounds of quinoa crepes).
- Slice the onion thinly. Add to a large frying pan over medium-low heat with about 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil and a generous pinch of salt; stir to coat. Cook for about 30 minutes, stirring frequently, until caramelized.
- Meanwhile, slice the bell peppers into thin strips. You can wait until the onions are done to re-use the same pan, or use another pan to saute them in a tablespoon of olive oil with a pinch of salt over medium heat until soft (about 10 minutes).
- Squeeze water out of the spinach and mix the spinach, goat cheese and basil together along with another generous pinch of salt.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Get out a round, deep baking dish at least 8 to 9-inches in diameter (it's okay to use a square baking dish; you can cut the quinoa crepes to fit and they don't need to fit perfectly). Layer a quinoa crepe into the pan and top with ½ cup or so of tomato sauce. Top with spinach, pell pepper, onion and shredded gruyere. Repeat with remaining crepes, vegetables and cheese. Finish with a layer of sauce, gruyere, and parmesan.
- Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake for another 15 minutes.
Did you try this recipe?
Tag @thepancakeprincess on Instagram!
Colleen Kelly
I tried making this and I really like it. I really like eating the quinoa pancakes alone too. Yum!
erika
Awesome, so glad you liked it!! Thanks for reporting back Colleen, you made my day! 🙂
Millie l Add A Little
This looks so awesome and I love the ‘crepe’ like layers you’ve made instead of making pasta! SO tasty!
Annette
Your lasagna looks so delicious. I love using salt on top of fudge.
Sj Dc
The salt looks like a super-delish add-on
Amanda Paa
dang girl! this is a genius recipe. i never thought of making a lasagna from crepe like bread/sheets. trying it this winter. so happy to connect through friendsgiving!
erika
Ahh yay thanks Amanda!! So thrilled to connect via Friendsgiving as well–your brussels sprouts stuffing is still haunting my dreams!! 😉
Lindsey
YUM! Gotta try this, wish I were having it for thanksgiving!
erika
Haha thanks Lindsey! Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!
Sophie
Don’t you love when a fridge clean-out becomes something SO awesome? Sounds delicious! Love those gluten-free layers, so smart
erika
Yes!! You get me 🙂 Thanks so much lady–have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!
jaime
i can’t get over how clever the quinoa crepe idea is. i love this. i’ve never been a fan of traditional lasagna; the huge chewy noodles just aren’t my thing, but the quinoa pancakes sound incredible. ahhh!
erika
Jaime!! Thank you so much!!! I feel the same–those floppy noodles were always so bland and kind of hard to bite through, especially those corners that stuck out of the sauce and got super crunchy in the oven. Not my preferred way of eating pasta, that’s for sure! Hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Nora (A Clean Bake)
This is freakin’ brilliant. That is all.
Kathryn
I so, so, so wish that this friendsgiving was a real deal because there is pretty much nothing that I want to eat more right now than this lasagna. Quinoa crepes = genius. And that combo of roasted veggies and cheese has me totally swooning.
Dulcistella
Have you ever tried a vegetarian lasagna with radicchio and cheese? Or mushrooms… it’s my favorite!
Cassie @ Almost Getting it Together
Uhhh this looks amazing!! How creative… we always have lasagna for Thanksgiving at my Italian grandparents 🙂
Lindsey | Mabel & the Wooden Spoon
Being perpetually late is my M.O. You’re not alone there. And, seriously, if you’re bringing along delicious food like this, forgiveness is guaranteed.
Ala
Duuuude I’ve been late SO often in the past two years, it’s actually rather embarrassing. I totally agree about the beauty of the internet: late what? Who’s late? I’m really not sure anybody would give you flack for bringing the most delish dishes ever to a Friendsgiving though, even if you are late. I’d probably just embrace you with wide open arms while eyeing your dish. Happy Thanks/Friendsgiving, gal!
Nancy @ gottagetbaked
Whoa baby, that lasagna looks amazing! The quinoa crepes are a stroke of genius. Lasagna should always be a way to clean out one’s fridge – it’s so versatile. Just throw in anything that’s not molding or moving 😉 Your photos are gorgeous, Erika. I could stare at them all day (although that would make me ravenous with hunger).
Sara @ Cake Over Steak
Wow, this sounds amazing – you’re a magician! I never would have thought to do something like that with quinoa. Also, I’m glad to hear that Robert and I are not alone in always being late. We’re trying to work on that, though. I hope you have a lovely Thanksgiving! And now I’m craving baked brie ….
Kim @ AdventuresInANewishCity
Yes. YES. Girl, you sure do know the way to my heart!
Also, something tells me that your friends at the non-virtual friendsgiving probably immediately forgot your tardiness, because um baked brie HELLO. I want all of the things you make ever!
Kristi @ My SF Kitchen
Wow this vegetarian lasagna looks amazing!
Kayle (The Cooking Actress)
omigosh how fun! Jealous of your friendsgiving!!!
and mmmmmm quinoa lasagna is so brilliant!
Megan
I can’t wait to make this! The photos are awesome, too! Thanks for sharing!
Lauren K.
This looks amazing! Even my meat-eating husband would be all over this.
Linda | Brunch with Joy
Virtual friendsgiving sound super fun and this lasagna looks so heavenly. That must be the result of labor of love. 🙂
Michelle @ Hummingbird High
Ooohhh yes, this quinoa lasagna looks all sorts of perfect. Believe me, if you came running late to our friendsgiving but had a plate of this (or your baked brie, or your sweet potatoes), you would hear no complaints from me.
And isn’t this salt the best? Yay for virtual friendsgiving!
erika
Haha and that is why I appreciate you to the max, lady. This salt is TOTALLY the best!! Wish I could’ve crashed your amazing Asian Thanksgiving feast!!!
cynthia
This looks like heeeaaaaven. And oh gosh, being late — I am so bad about it! Especially here, where inevitably something happens with a train or I panic and take it the wrong way (or something happens with the train, THEN I panic and take it the wrong way………….) But now I know… I just have to show up with melty cheese and toasty marshmallows! Or this LASAGNA, which looks and sounds absolutely incredible. I love that you tucked quinoa into it instead of pasta! So genius. Renee’s Friendsgiving is pretty much the best thing ever <3 hope you had a lovely Friendsgiving in person, too!!!
erika
Haha I’m sure you’re not nearly as bad as me, but thanks for commiserating, as always 😉 You’re the sweetest!!!!
Melissa @ treats with a twist
Beautiful!! I needed a gf “pasta” recipe so I’m totally using this!! Enjoy your holiday!