Vegan Greek Pastitsio

Print Recipe

Prep Time20

Cook Time1 30

Total Time1 50

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: Greek, Mediterranean, Vegan, WFPB

Keyword: vegan greek recipe

Servings:

Calories: 419kcal

Ingredients

1 pkg whole grain penne
1 cups brown rice cooked in 2 cups of vegetable broth
4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth use 2 cups to cook rice in
1 sweet onion
1 cup lentils green or brown
8 roma tomatoes chopped
½ cup parsley chopped
½ cup white wine
sea salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste

For sauce:

1 head cauliflower
1 cup raw cashews see note
1 cup walnuts see note
2 cloves garlic
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

Boil cauliflower until very soft. Once soft, strain, cut in chunks, and add it along with all other cream sauce ingredients to a high speed blender. Blend until smooth. Set aside.
While the cauliflower is cooking, cook pasta according to package instructions to al dente. Drain and set aside.
Chop onion and sauté in 1/2 cup of vegetable broth until slightly cooked. Add lentils and sauté until onions become soft. Add more broth if needed so it's not too dry.
Add tomatoes and parsley to the pan. Sauté for a few minutes, then add wine, salt and pepper. Add rice and continue to cook until lentils begin to get soft and rice softens a little. You do not want it to get overly cooked.
Once done, pour into a large bowl and use an immersion blender to pulse mixture until chunky but not mushy. Don't overdo it.
In a bowl, mix half of the pasta with 1 cup of the filling mixture and ½ cup of the cream sauce. Place on the bottom of a 9 x 12 baking dish.
Then spread remaining “meat” sauce evenly over the pasta. The sauce makes quite a bit so if it seems to be too much for you, you can leave some out and use it as a pasta sauce at a later time. It also freezes well.
Mix the other half of the pasta with 1 cup of the cream sauce and place over “meat” sauce layer.
Pour the remaining cream sauce over the top and spread evenly.
Cover with foil and bake for 35 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 15 minutes. Let cool and set before cutting and serving for best results.

Notes

Recipe Notes
Makes a 9 x 12 baking dish
If you are not using a high speed blender, there are a couple of options for making your sauce smooth: You can use a coffee grinder to grind the nuts into a fine powder, or make sure to soak them overnight, or for at least 2 to 3 hours. If you forget, you can also boil them for 30 minutes.
I used the green lentils here because they stay the most firm when cooked. You can use brown, but they will get a tad mushier. I wouldn’t recommend red as they get very soft.
You can use water to cook the rice in but the broth gives it a little more flavor.
If you do not have fresh tomatoes, you can use canned or bottled crushed tomatoes but I found they give a tangier flavor that I didn’t love.

Nutrition

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